The promotion of regular sleep is known as sleep hygiene. The following is a list of sleep hygiene tips which can be used to improve sleep.
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wakefulness
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Nov
12
2010
Study says tart cherry juice may be insomnia aid
Drinking tart cherry juice may help reduce the severity of insomnia and time spent awake after going to sleep, according to a published study
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In the initial stages of sleep, energy levels increase dramatically in brain regions found to be active during waking hours, according to new research in the June 30 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
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According to research findings presented Wednesday, June 10, at Sleep 2009, the 23rd annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, caffeine use prevents increased risk-taking that occurs after several nights of total sleep deprivation.
Results indicate that despite extreme sleep deprivation, participants who had consumed caffeine did not exhibit increased risky behavior on the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART), a computerized measure of impulsive risk-taking, according to the findings, released in abstract form, titled, “Caffeine Protects Against Increased Risk-Taking Behavior During.”
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Just one night without sleep can increase the amount of the chemical dopamine in the human brain, according to new imaging research in the August 20 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. Because drugs that increase dopamine, like amphetamines, promote wakefulness, the findings offer a potential mechanism explaining how the brain helps people stay awake despite the urge to sleep.
However, the study also shows that the increase in dopamine cannot compensate for the cognitive deficits caused by sleep deprivation.
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Epidemiologic surveys suggest that mean sleep duration among U.S. adults has decreased during the past two decades (CDC, unpublished data, 2007). An estimated 50–70 million persons in the United States have chronic sleep and wakefulness disorder.
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The majority of patients with narcolepsy/cataplexy experience a number of symptoms of eating disorders, with an irresistible craving for food and binge eating as the most prominent features, according to a study published in the March 1 issue of the journal Sleep.
Study authors Hal Droogleever Fortuyn, M.D., and Sebastiaan Overeem, M.D., of the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in The Netherlands, focused on 60 patients who had been diagnosed with narcolepsy with cataplexy (N/C) who were recruited from specialized sleep centers and 120 healthy controls.
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A paper published in the June 1, 2007 issue of the journal Sleep is the first literature review and formal classification of a wide range of documented sleep-related disorders associated with abnormal sexual behaviors and experiences.
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The power of a new technique to map connections among nerve cells in the brain has a UT Southwestern Medical Center scientist dreaming of solving the mysteries of sleep.
By tracking which nerve cells in the mouse brain stimulate others, researchers in Japan and at UT Southwestern found that a type of neuron responsible for keeping animals awake receives inhibitory signals from neurons active only during sleep, as well as reinforcing, positive signals from nerve cells that are very active during wakefulness.
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