Can big data help you get a good night’s sleep?
NOTES FROM DR. NORMAN BLUMENSTOCK: Many sleep experts have strong doubts on the reliability of the data since the data is generated by unproven algorithms. by Jeffrey M. O’Brien JUNE 29, 2015, 6:00 AM EDT Large-scale computing power, combined with input from millions of fitness trackers, could help unlock the mysteries of our national insomnia. I’m playing tennis with Marissa Mayer, and oddly, the Yahoo YHOO 0.98% CEO is wearing a pearlescent purple gown and sipping from a teacup. Her dress is just long enough to obscure her feet, so she appears to be floating across the baseline. As …
Snooze-Deprived Couples Rest Easy After ‘Sleep Divorce’
by HALLIE JACKSON Jack Mazewski snores so loudly that his children sleeping down the hall can hear it. The noise didn’t bother his wife, Joanna, for the first few years of their marriage — until their kids were born. “I became a light sleeper because you have a little more stress – two children, a mortgage, bills,” said Joanna Mazewski. Night after night, her husband’s snoring kept her awake. “She would poke me a few times,” Jack said. His wife quickly corrected him: “I would say kick, not poke.” “I would end up waking him up in the middle of …
Synchronizing Your Body Clocks May Help Shed Excess Weight and Prevent Insulin Resistance
June 18, 2015 http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=389596946&m=392014882 By Dr. Mercola If you struggle with excess weight, insulin resistance, and/or diabetes, getting more sleep may be of significant importance. According to recent research,1,2 poor sleep and/or lack of sleep can have a significant bearing on metabolic disorders such as these, and addressing your sleeping habits may be key for both the prevention and treatment of them. The answer as to why sleep is so important for normalizing your metabolism has to do with its effects on your body’s circadian clocks—and yes; you have a number of circadian clocks, not just one. As noted in …
Lower Life Satisfaction Linked to Sleep Problems During Midlife
Published on June 11, 2015 A study suggests that lower life satisfaction is linked to sleep problems during midlife. Respondents with higher life satisfaction reported shorter sleep onset latency (SOL). Sleep onset delay among those with low life satisfaction could be the result of worry and anxiety, as reported elsewhere. These findings support the idea that life satisfaction is interlinked with many measures of sleep and sleep quality, suggesting that improving one of these variables might result in improving the other. “These findings support the idea that life satisfaction is interlinked with many measures of sleep and sleep quality, suggesting …
Among College Freshmen, Sleep Disorders Risk May Predict Retention
Published on June 11, 2015 A study suggests that the risk for sleep disorders among college freshmen may be a predictor of retention and academic success. Results show that students at risk for a sleep disorder were more likely to leave the institution over the three-year period, although this association was weakened when covariates were included. Risk for sleep disorder also predicted grade point average (GPA) at the end of the first and second years. “A survey that screens for sleep disorders administered when students first enter college may identify a potentially modifiable risk factor for leaving before completing …
Partial Sleep Deprivation Linked to Biological Aging in Older Adults
Published on June 11, 2015 A study suggests that one night of partial sleep deprivation promotes biological aging in older adults. Results show that one night of partial sleep deprivation activates gene expression patterns in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) consistent with increasing accumulation of damage that initiates cell cycle arrest and increases susceptibility to senescence. These findings causally link sleep deprivation to the etiology of biological aging, and further supports the hypothesis that sleep deprivation may be associated with elevated disease risk because it promotes molecular processes involved in biological aging. “Our data support the hypothesis that one night …
Spring has sprung and pollen is in the air.
U-T San Diego 06:00a.m. Apr 29, 2015 After a long winter that left much of the country under many inches of snow, spring is in full swing. While the warmer weather is a relief for many people, some people suffer from allergy-inducing pollen. An estimated 1 in 5 Americans suffer from allergies that come with symptoms such as itchy eyes, swollen eyelids, and watery and red eyes. The most common culprit is pollen, or microscopic particles that are released into the air by trees, grass and weeds. “When exposed to these allergens, cells in the eyes release histamines and other …
Is Your Child a Mouth-Breather? There’s New Help at the Dentist.
Posted: 09/19/2014 5:19 pm EDT “If you can see or hear your child breathing, that’s a problem,” said Dr. Benedict Miraglia, a dentist in Mount Kisco, New York, who spoke at a recent seminar, “ADHD and The Role of Sleep,” in Hartsdale, New York. Seeing or hearing what should be silent and invisible is a clue to obstructed airways — which are often associated with snoring and sleep apnea, and increasingly, in children, with jaw malformation, a bad bite, sleep-deprivation and even ADHD and ADD — all of which can stem from mouth-breathing, which he says is also associated with …
To Sleep Better, Spend More Time in the Dark.
April 23, 2015 By Dr. Mercola Recent research1 reveals that you have more than one biological clock in your body. As it turns out, virtually every organ in your body has its own clock or circadian rhythm, and in order to keep them all in sync, you need to keep a regular waking and sleeping schedule that is linked to the rising and setting of the sun. When your sleep schedule is erratic, a cascade of effects can occur, raising your blood pressure, altering hunger hormones, and disrupting your blood sugar control, for example. Chronic sleep disruptions also promote metabolic …
Where and what is happening in your brain when you sleep?
Sleep has profound importance in our lives, such that we spend a considerable proportion of our time engaging in it. Sleep enables the body, including the brain, to recover metabolically, but contemporary research has been moving to focus on the active rather than recuperative role that sleep has on our brain and behaviour. Sleep is composed of several distinct stages. Two of these, slow-wave (or deep) and REM sleep, reflect very different patterns of brain activity, and have been related to different cognitive processes. Slow-wave sleep is characterised by synchronised activity of neurons in the neo-cortex firing at a slow …
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