Sleep News and Research

Latest Sleep News and Research

Health impact of Daylight Saving Time

Every year people make a change in their daily timetables to make use of what is called “Daylight Saving Time” (DST), and then transition back again to their earlier time clocks. However, new research published in JAMA Neurology shows that this yearly change about may affect health over the long term. The researchers strongly call for stopping this practice, which has no economic benefit, and may have severe and chronic negative health impacts.

5 Nov 2019

Wake Forest Baptist receives $6 million to study non-pharmaceutical cancer pain management

For many people who've had cancer, severe pain can persist even after treatment ends.

5 Nov 2019

Study defies decades-old patient eligibility guidelines for bariatric surgery

Weight-loss surgery has long been shown to improve or resolve diabetes, reduce heart attacks and stroke and produce significant weight loss, but the operation has generally been restricted by health insurers to people with severe obesity, which means about 75 to 100 pounds overweight or a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or higher.

5 Nov 2019

Cancer risk reduces to half with over 20% weight loss in post- bariatric surgery patients

Patients with severe obesity who had bariatric or weight-loss surgery and lost more than 20% of their total weight were 50% less likely to develop cancer compared to patients who did not have as much weight loss after surgery, according to a new study presented today by Oregon Health & Science University researchers at the 36th American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Annual Meeting at ObesityWeek 2019.

5 Nov 2019

Study investigates how discrimination events affect daily lives of college students

Discrimination -- differential treatment based on an aspect of someone's identity, such as nationality, race, sexual orientation or gender -- is linked to lower success in careers and poorer health.

4 Nov 2019

Twitter use could predict loneliness, mental health issues

For all the rush and busyness of daily life, it gets to be very lonely, for at least 20% of people in the US. And since loneliness is a potent ingredient in the mix that produces heart disease, stroke, dementia and depression – among other health issues – it deserves a place in public health policy.

4 Nov 2019

Mount Sinai launches new mobile precision wellness iPhone app

Have you ever wondered whether your double latte really helps you function better in that early-morning meeting? Or if melatonin truly gives you better sleep at night? Now there's a way to find out, thanks to a new mobile precision wellness iPhone app developed at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

4 Nov 2019

Deep sleep can calm and reset the anxious brain

When it comes to managing anxiety disorders, William Shakespeare's Macbeth had it right when he referred to sleep as the "balm of hurt minds." While a full night of slumber stabilizes emotions, a sleepless night can trigger up to a 30% rise in anxiety levels, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley.

4 Nov 2019

AASM survey: 88% of Americans lose sleep due to binge-watching

According to a new survey from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, U.S. adults rank sleep as their second most important priority, following family. However, data show that Americans are often limiting their opportunities to get enough healthy sleep.

4 Nov 2019

If power outages are California’s new normal, what about home medical needs?

Fern Brown, 81, sat in the rear of a tent on the windswept fairgrounds of this historic Gold Rush town, drawing deep breaths through the mouthpiece of a nebulizer plugged into a power strip atop a plastic folding table.

1 Nov 2019

Sleep protects the brain against Alzheimer’s by washing it

Researchers have found that when in deep sleep, the brain waves within can start off a cleaning system within the brain that can protect it against Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative brain diseases. The study titled, “Coupled electrophysiological, hemodynamic, and cerebrospinal fluid oscillations in human sleep,” was published this week in the latest issue of the journal Science.

31 Oct 2019

Cerebrospinal fluid washes through the brain in rhythmic waves during sleep

New research from Boston University suggests that tonight while you sleep, something amazing will happen within your brain. Your neurons will go quiet. A few seconds later, blood will flow out of your head.

31 Oct 2019

Natural light and outdoor views improve workers’ cognitive performance

New research from the Well Living Lab, a Delos™ and Mayo Clinic collaboration, shows that office areas with windows, which provide people with natural light and views of the outdoors, improve workers' cognitive performance and satisfaction with their office environment.

31 Oct 2019

Education level and socioeconomic status can predict thinking and memory performance

How well eight-year-olds score on a test of thinking skills may be a predictor of how they will perform on tests of thinking and memory skills when they are 70 years old, according to a study published in the October 30, 2019, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

31 Oct 2019

Wearable accelerometers are reliable predictors of mortality risk in older adults

A federally funded study by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers shows that wearable accelerometers - mechanical sensors worn like a watch, belt or bracelet to track movement - are a more reliable measure of physical activity and better than patient surveys and other methods used by physicians at assessing five-year risk of death in older adults.

30 Oct 2019

Prenatal exposure to air pollution associated with reduced cardiac response to stress in infants

A mother's exposure to particulate air pollution during pregnancy is associated with reduced cardiac response to stress in six-month-old infants, according to Mount Sinai research published in Environmental Health Perspectives in October.

30 Oct 2019

Houston Methodist neurologist offers three tips for better sleep

More than one-third of Americans get less than seven hours of sleep each night, putting them at risk for serious, chronic health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity. The real victim of a lack of sleep, however, is the brain.

29 Oct 2019

California fires illuminate trauma and resilience

Dorothy Hammack had planned to wash her thick, dark hair in the kitchen sink Friday morning. She couldn't yet shower, due to the incision on her breast from a biopsy a few days before. Her doctor had already called to let her know the results: She had breast cancer.

29 Oct 2019

Early retirement can accelerate cognitive decline among the elderly

Early retirement can accelerate cognitive decline among the elderly, according to research conducted by faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York.

29 Oct 2019

Plastic surgery training takes a toll on reproductive health

Plastic surgery training takes a toll on childbearing and reproductive health, including negative effects on fertility, complications during pregnancy, and breastfeeding practices, reports a study in the November issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

29 Oct 2019