Lack of 'sleep' may zap cell growth, brain activity, study in plants suggests

 

Lack of adequate sleep can do more than just make you tired. It can short-circuit your system and interfere with a fundamental cellular process that drives physical growth, physiological adaptation and even brain activity, according to a new study from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Albrecht von Arnim, a molecular biologist based in the Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology, studied plants but said the concepts may well translate to humans. His team examined how protein synthesis--the process that determines how organisms grow and how cells renew themselves--changes over the course of the daily day-night cycle. He also explored whether any such changes are controlled by the organism's internal time keeper, the circadian clock. Proteins are newly created in every cell by translating messages made from the cell's own DNA, the genome. Von Arnim's findings, published in the journal Plant Cell, show not only that protein synthesis activity changed over the course of the day, but also that it was under the influence of the circadian clock. "When we misalign our behavior with our circadian clock, for example by creating jet lag, or by working as a night owl, we do not only disrupt normal physiological processes such as cycles of appetite and body temperature," von Arnim said. "This work in plants suggests that we may also be interfering with a more fundamental cellular process, protein synthesis." Muscle action, brain activity, growth and development are functions all performed by proteins whose synthesis is carefully regulated, he said. "For example, when cells are stressed by high temperatures or from a virus infection, they drastically reduce their protein synthesis activity," von Arnim said. The findings could also have implications for agricultural production as farmers and companies seek to better cultivate land and maximize outputs from plants required to sustain human life. "Protein synthesis is part of the basis for crop yield," von Arnim said. Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Anamika Missra et al. The Circadian Clock Modulates Global Daily Cycles of mRNA Ribosome Loading. The Plant Cell, 2015 DOI:10.%u200B1105/%u200Btpc.%u200B15.%u200B00546 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151030153115.htm

Feeling impulsive or frustrated? Take a nap

 

Taking a nap may be an effective strategy to counteract impulsive behavior and to boost tolerance for frustration, according to a University of Michigan study. It's becoming increasingly common for people, especially adults, to not sleep an entire night. This can negatively impair a person's attention span and memory, as well as contribute to fatigue. U-M researchers examined how a brief nap affected adults' emotional control. The study's 40 participants, ages 18-50, maintained a consistent sleep schedule for three nights prior to the test. In a laboratory, participants completed tasks on computers and answered questions about sleepiness, mood and impulsivity. They were randomly assigned to a 60-minute nap opportunity or no-nap period that involved watching a nature video. Research assistants monitored the participants, who later completed those questionnaires and tasks again. Those who napped spent more time trying to solve a task than the non-nappers who were less willing to endure frustration in order to complete it. In addition, nappers reported feeling less impulsive. Combined with previous research demonstrating the negative effects of sleep deprivation, results from the U-M study indicate that staying awake for an extended period of time hinders people from controlling negative emotional responses, said Jennifer Goldschmied, the study's lead author. "Our results suggest that napping may be a beneficial intervention for individuals who may be required to remain awake for long periods of time by enhancing the ability to persevere through difficult or frustrating tasks," said Goldschmied, a doctoral student in the Department of Psychology. Napping may also be a cost-efficient and easy strategy to increase workplace safety, the researchers said. Employers who add nap pods in the workplace or offer extended break time may find their employees more productive. The study's authors also include Philip Cheng, Kathryn Kemp, Lauren Caccamo, Julia Roberts and Patricia Deldin. The findings appear in the current online issue of Personality and Individual Differences. Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of Michigan. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Jennifer R. Goldschmied, Philip Cheng, Kathryn Kemp, Lauren Caccamo, Julia Roberts, Patricia J. Deldin. Napping to modulate frustration and impulsivity: A pilot study. Personality and Individual Differences, 2015; 86: 164 DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2015.06.013

Access to electricity is linked to reduced sleep

 

In this image, a Toba/Qom child sleeps. Credit: U of Washington Blame smartphone alerts, constant connectivity and a deluge of media for our society's sleep deprivation. But the root cause of why we get less sleep now than our ancestors did could come down to a much simpler reason: artificial light. New research comparing traditional hunter-gatherer living conditions to a more modern setting shows that access to artificial light and electricity has shortened the amount of sleep humans get each night. The research, published online June 18 in the Journal of Biological Rhythms, is the first study to document this relationship in the field. "Everything we found feeds what we had predicted from laboratory or intervention studies, where researchers manipulate certain aspects of light exposure. But this is the first time we've seen this hold true in a natural setting," said lead author Horacio de la Iglesia, a University of Washington biology professor. The researchers compared two traditionally hunter-gatherer communities that have almost identical ethnic and sociocultural backgrounds, but differ in one key aspect -- access to electricity. They wanted to see if, all other factors aside, electricity would impact people's sleep during an average week in both the summer and winter. They found this rare scenario in northeastern Argentina, with two Toba/Qom indigenous communities living about 50 kilometers (31 miles) apart. The first has 24-hour free access to electricity and can turn on lights at any time, while the second has no electricity, relying only on natural light. In their usual daily routines, the community with electricity slept about an hour less than their counterparts with no electricity. These shorter nights were mostly due to people who had the option to turn on lights and go to bed later, the researchers found. Both communities slept longer in the winter and for fewer hours in the summer. Though this study took place from 2012 to 2013, the sleep-pattern differences observed between the communities can be seen as an example of how our ancestors likely adapted their sleep behaviors as livelihoods changed and electricity became available, de la Iglesia said. "In a way, this study presents a proxy of what happened to humanity as we moved from hunting and gathering to agriculture and eventually to our industrialized society," he said. "All the effects we found are probably an underestimation of what we would see in highly industrialized societies where our access to electricity has tremendously disrupted our sleep." The researchers visited each community for a week during the summer and winter, placing bracelets onto the wrist of each study participant to monitor activity. The devices can track slight changes in movement, so a still wrist for a longer time implies that a person is sleeping. Participants also kept sleep diaries during the study period, where they recorded what times they went to bed and woke up, as well as any naps throughout the day. This information mainly was used to corroborate data collected from the wristbands. Even in sub-tropical Argentina, where the differences between summer and winter daylight hours vary about two and a half hours at most, study participants naturally slept longer in the winter. In a high-latitude place like Seattle, that daylight difference is close to eight hours between summer and winter. These findings suggest there's a biological driver in humans that requires more sleep in the darker winter months. "We tend to think we're isolated from seasonal effects even though we know this is the case for many animals," de la Iglesia said. "I think it's still embedded in our biology even when we do as much as we can to obscure that difference between summer and winter." Past research has shown that artificial light can disrupt our circadian clock and sleep-wake cycle, effectively pushing them back when we turn on the lights in the evening. The researchers have documented this from their observation study, and they plan to look next at whether the later sleep onset and reduced sleep in the community with electricity is due to a shift in the biological clock by measuring melatonin levels in the two communities. They also plan to study the effects the moon cycle may have on sleep patterns. Co-authors are Claudia Valeggia and Eduardo Fernández-Duque at Yale University; Diego Golombek at Universidad Nacional de Quilmes in Argentina; Norberto Lanza at Instituto de Investigaciones Geohistóricas in Argentina; and Jeanne Duffy and Charles Czeisler of the Division of Sleep Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital. The research was funded by the Leakey Foundation, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of Washington. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: H. O. de la Iglesia, E. Fernandez-Duque, D. A. Golombek, N. Lanza, J. F. Duffy, C. A. Czeisler, C. R. Valeggia. Access to Electric Light Is Associated with Shorter Sleep Duration in a Traditionally Hunter-Gatherer Community. Journal of Biological Rhythms, 2015; DOI: 10.1177/0748730415590702

Sleep loss impedes decision making in crisis, research shows

 

Facilities at WSU's Sleep and Performance Research Center allow for both scientific data collection and a restful night's sleep. Credit: Washington State University photo The difference between life and death in the operating room, on the battlefield or during a police shootout often comes down to the ability to adapt to the unexpected. Sleep deprivation may make it difficult to do so, according to a Washington State University study published this month in the journal Sleep. For the first time, WSU researchers created a laboratory experiment that simulates how sleep loss affects critical aspects of decision making in high-stakes, real-world situations. Their results provide a new understanding of how going without sleep for long periods can lead doctors, first responders, military personnel and others in a crisis situation to make catastrophic decisions. Overcoming challenge of lab research Recent history is full of examples of the sometimes devastating consequences of people operating without enough sleep. Investigations into the Chernobyl nuclear power plant meltdown in Ukraine, the grounding of the Exxon Valdez oil tanker and the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger all concluded that sleep-deprived operators played a role in causing the accidents. A long-standing conundrum for sleep scientists has been creating a controlled lab situation that sufficiently simulates the circumstances leading to severe lapses in real-world judgment. Previous laboratory research consistently showed sleep loss degrades attention, but its effects on demanding tests of cognition like decision making appeared to be relatively small. "So there has been a disconnect between decision making in the lab where the effects of sleep loss appeared to be minimal and decision making in the real world where sleep loss can lead to big problems," said Paul Whitney, WSU associate dean and professor of psychology. "Our goal was to bridge the gap and capture the essential elements of real-world decision making in a laboratory experiment." Adapting to feedback crucial In a natural context, decision making is a dynamic process that requires a person to learn what is going on nearby as a result of his or her actions and changing circumstances. A surgeon, for instance, might notice a change in a patient's vital signs midway through a procedure. The surgeon can then use this feedback decide a better course of action. "A novel aspect of this study was using a simple laboratory task that captures the essential aspect of real-world decision making of adapting to new information in a changing situation," said John Hinson, professor of psychology. "Prior studies of sleep loss and decision making have not realized how important adapting to changing circumstances is in determining when sleep loss will lead to decision making failures." Whitney, Hinson and Hans Van Dongen, director of the WSU Sleep and Performance Research Center at WSU Spokane, along with Melinda Jackson, now of the RMIT University, Victoria, Australia, recruited 26 healthy adults to take part in their study conducted at the Spokane sleep center. Thirteen of the participants were randomly selected to go 62 hours without sleep two days into the study while the other half of the group was allowed to rest. For six days and nights, the participants lived in a hotel-like laboratory where they performed a specially designed reversal learning task to test their ability to use feedback to guide future decisions. Mid-study switch confounds sleep deprived In the task, subjects were shown a series of numbers that, unknown to them, were pre-assigned to have either a "go" (response) or "no go" (non-response) value. They had less than a second to decide whether or not to respond to each number shown. Every time they correctly identified a number with a "go" value, they received a fictitious monetary reward. Errors resulted in a loss. After a while, both the sleep-deprived group and the controls started to catch on and selected the right numbers. Then the tricky part came. The researchers reversed the contingencies so that participants had to withhold a response to the "go" numbers and respond to the "no go" numbers. The switch confounded the sleep deprived participants. Even after being shown 40 numbers with reversed contingencies, they had almost zero success. On the other hand, the rested participants would catch on to the switch within 8-16 numbers. Implications of sleep-loss risk The data show that no matter how hard a person wants to make the right choice, sleep loss does something to the brain that simply prevents it from effectively using feedback. The study provides a new tool for investigating how sleep deprivation produces decision errors in real-life situations where information emerges over time. "People in high-stakes environments are held accountable for their actions when they are fatigued just like everyone else," Van Dongen said. "However, we now know that when someone is sleep-deprived their brain simply can't process feedback from their actions and changing circumstances. "Our findings tell us that putting sleep-deprived people in perilous environments is an inherently risky business and raises a number of medical, legal and financial implications," he said.

Common biomarkers of sleep debt found in humans, rats

Stating that sleep is an essential biological process seems as obvious as saying that the sun rises every morning. Yet, researchers' understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of sleep loss is still in its earliest stages. The risk for a host of metabolic disorders, including weight gain, diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease, associated with reduced sleep is driving basic investigations on the topic. In a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Amita Sehgal, PhD, a professor of Neuroscience at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, along with co-first authors Aalim M. Weljie, PhD, a research assistant professor of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics, and Peter Meerlo, PhD, from the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, found common molecules signifying perturbed metabolism in response to sleep restriction in a comprehensive metabolic profiling of blood from both rats and humans. Their findings point to an overall shift in how lipids are metabolized and evidence of systemic oxidative stress due to decreased sleep in both species. Oxidative stress and lipid metabolism are important factors in metabolic diseases, although further work needs to be done to establish a mechanistic link between the markers found and specific diseases, stress the researchers. "One possibility is that sleep drives metabolite clearance and so acts as a reparative process at the metabolic level," says Sehgal. "The impact of sleep restriction on circadian biology is particularly relevant given what we now know about how metabolites also oscillate in humans on a daily basis." Metabolites are chemical intermediates or end products of metabolism, so while they are generated through the breakdown of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins, their function is not restricted to these processes. They also have roles in signaling, regulating enzymatic activity, growth, and development. Of Rats and Humans The team subjected rats and humans to chronic sleep restriction over five days. Sleep restriction, versus sleep deprivation, curtails sleep time, but does not eliminate sleep. "Sleep restriction more closely represents real-world situations in humans and is a condition experienced by millions of people every day," notes Sehgal. In both studies, metabolite levels were compared in blood that was collected following adequate sleep opportunity in rats and humans to establish a baseline and then following restricted sleep. The team then produced a comprehensive metabolite profile from the blood of sleep-restricted rats and humans. Of the 38 metabolites they found to be unique in the sleep-restricted rats, half were known lipids. A majority of the metabolites from the sleep-restricted human participants were also lipid or fatty acid-related compounds. Seven types of a phospholipid called plasmalogens, related to oxidative stress, were elevated in the sleep-restricted rats. Overall, they found a significant shift in lipid metabolism, with sleep restriction, with higher levels of phospholipids in both rats and humans. The team found that some neurotransmitters and gut metabolites (possibly from intestinal microbes) are also altered due to sleep restriction. "While we don't yet know why the lipids are changed in both species, these shifts are very intriguing, given the epidemiological links between restricted sleep and metabolic disorders, such as diabetes, obesity, and metabolomics syndrome," says Weljie. "I'm sure there's a connection." When they compared the list of significantly altered metabolites in rats and humans compared to the baseline before sleep restriction, they found that two metabolites -- oxalic acid and diacylglycerol 36:3 -- were depleted under sleep-restricted conditions and restored after recovery sleep in both species. Oxalic acid is a waste product derived from processing foods in the diet such as plants, primarily from the breakdown of vitamin C and some amino acids. Diacylglycerol is a precursor molecule in the production of triglycerides, a molecule in which most fat is stored in the body, and also has a function in signaling in cells. The researchers suggest that these two molecules could serve as potential biomarkers since they are present in both species. "These cross-species markers are exciting for a couple reasons," adds Weljie. "First, there is a need for quantitative markers of sleep debt and sleep quality, and this approach suggests that metabolites may be useful in this regard. Second, because we found the same metabolites in the humans and rats, it opens the door for us investigate mechanistic questions regarding the metabolic effects of sleep in rats that may have clinical and therapeutic application." Overall, this work provides a potential link between the known pathologies of reduced sleep duration and metabolic dysfunction. "This is consistent with other studies that suggest that one of the functions of sleep is restorative, involving clearance of metabolites in the brain and reinstating an antioxidant balance in peripheral tissues. Sleep loss, on the other hand, induces an oxidative metabolic state," says Sehgal. Namni Goel, Arjun Senguptaa, Matthew S. Kayser, Ted Abel, Morris J. Birnbaum (now with Pfizer, Inc.), and David F. Dinges, all from Penn, are co-authors. The authors thank the subjects who participated in the experiments and the staff of the Division of Sleep and Chronobiology, who helped acquire the material for metabolomic analysis. This research was supported by HHMI, the Department of the Navy Office of Naval Research Award (N00014-11-1-0361), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NNX14AN49G, NCC 9-58), the National Institutes of Nursing Research (NR004281), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the US Army Research Office (W911NF1010093). Story Source: The above story is based on materials provided by Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Aalim M. Weljie, Peter Meerlo, Namni Goel, Arjun Sengupta, Matthew S. Kayser, Ted Abel, Morris J. Birnbaum, David F. Dinges, Amita Sehgal. Oxalic acid and diacylglycerol 36:3 are cross-species markers of sleep debt. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2015; 201417432 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1417432112

Three Tips for Better Sleep: Overcome your Insomnia - republishing -

 

Published on October 15, 2013 by Jonathan Fader, Ph.D. in The New You “When I woke up this morning my girlfriend asked me, “Did you sleep good? I said “No, I made a few mistakes.” - Steven Wright First, you are not alone. A shocking 50-70 million people living in the USA have sleep difficulties of some kind. But not to worry, there are some very practical strategies that you can use if you would like to try change your behaviors to improve your sleep. As Steven Wright joked, we all make mistakes in our sleep related behaviors. This post will review some of the tools used in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) to get started towards a more restful night tonight! 1. Retrain your mind and body for sleep. If you can’t sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It’s the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep. - Dale Carnegie When we lie sleeplessly in bed our brain begins to associate bed with sleeplessness. Stimulus control therapy works to retrain your brain how to sleep. There are some guidelines you can follow on your own that can really help in this area. First, avoid using your bed for anything (ok almost anything!) except sleep. Secondly, if you are in bed awake for more than 20 minutes, get up and sit in a chair outside of the sleeping area and participate in a non-activating activity in low light. For example reading, crafting, or implementing a relaxation exercises. Try not to use anything with a screen. Sleep Hygiene can also contribute to training your body to sleep. One healthy step towards this is to develop a nighttime ritual. Having a cup of tea (decaffeinated), taking a warm shower, stretching, changing into specific pajamas before bed can all help send messages to your brain that it is time to go to sleep. 2. Manage your stress and worry. Man should forget his anger before he lies down to sleep. - Mahatma Gandhi Stress and anxiety can create substantial barriers to sleep. Some tools that you can use during your day and near bedtime to reduce worry and stress are breathing exercises and muscle relaxation exercises. Both of these tools can help to reduce stress and induce relaxation which will help you prepare your body and mind to rest. Worry time: Pick a scheduled time to worry and write your worries down. If you think of something during the rest of the day, tell yourself you will worry about that during your “worry time.” If you must, take a minute to write down your worry at that time. Lastly, don’t look at the clock while sleeping! This can lead to increased pressure and worry about sleeping. I have had clients that go so far as to put the clock in another part of the room or put tape over the screen to avoid temptation. 3. Daily Activities and next steps A well spent day brings happy sleep - Leonardo da Vinci What you do during the day does affect the quality of your sleep. There is plenty of evidence that supports the fact that exercising during the day can help you sleep better. Also, napping during the day can negatively affect your nighttime sleep. One of the main ideas of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia is the idea of “sleep efficiency” which basically means the proportion of time that you are actually asleep while in bed. In CBT-I you work with a therapist to help you create a “sleep debt” (a need to fall asleep) by allowing yourself less time (opportunity) to be in bed. This results in being tired while in bed and thus, eventually sleeping more. Hopefully some of these tips will be helpful for you. Certainly a consultation with a clinician who has expertise in CBT-I can help you guide yourself to a night of restful sleep. Sweet Dreams!

Secret to raising well behaved teens? Maximize their zzzzz's

 

September 26, 2014

Taylor & Francis

While American pediatricians warn sleep deprivation can stack the deck against teenagers, a new study reveals youth’s irritability and laziness aren’t down to attitude problems but lack of sleep. This paper exposes the negative consequences of sleep deprivation caused by early school bells, and shows that altering education times not only perks up teens’ mood, but also enhances learning and health.

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In puberty, shifts in our body clocks push optimal sleep later into the evening, making it extremely difficult for most teenagers to fall asleep before 11.00pm. This, coupled with early school starts in the morning, results in chronically sleep-deprived and cranky teens as well as plummeting grades and health problems.

While American pediatricians warn sleep deprivation can stack the deck against teenagers, a new study from Taylor & Francis reveals youth's irritability and laziness aren't down to attitude problems but lack of sleep.

Recently published in the journal of Learning, Media and Technology, this interesting paper exposes the negative consequences of sleep deprivation caused by early school bells, and shows that altering education times not only perks up teens' mood, but also enhances learning and health.

It is no secret that human biology and education measure time in different ways; however, 'our ability to function optimally [and learn], varies with biological time rather than conventional social times', explain the team leading the research. When the two are more closely aligned, like in the early years of education, this is not so critical.

But things drastically change during adolescence, when 'the conflict between social and biological time is greater than at any point in our lives', continue the academics. Our sleep-wake cycle, or circadian rhythm, is the result of a complex balance between states of alertness and sleepiness regulated by a part of the brain called Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SNC); in puberty, shifts in our body clocks push optimal sleep later into the evening, making it extremely difficult for most teenagers to fall asleep before 11.00pm. This, coupled with early school starts in the morning, results in chronically sleep-deprived and cranky teens as well as plummeting grades and health problems.

There is a body of evidence showing the benefits of synchronizing education times with teens' body clocks; interestingly, while 'studies of later start times have consistently reported benefits to adolescent sleep health and learning, there [is no evidence] showing early starts have a positive impact on such things', add the researchers. In spite of examples corroborating this theory -- crucial is the case of the United States Air Force Academy where a later start policy has been instrumental in trumpeting the marks of a group of 18-19 year olds -- educators still fail to grasp it's not laziness that keeps teens in bed in the morning but their biological clocks.

However, regardless of reluctance to alter the way things have always been done, a number of initiatives -- including the Start School Later campaign and the establishment of the National Sleep Foundation -- indicate a change may be in the air for education policies and practices in the US.

'Good policies should be based on good evidence and the data show that children are currently placed at an enormous disadvantage by being forced to keep inappropriate education times', argue the team. Will priorities be reshuffled to allow teenagers to cop some more z's then? This still remains to be seen.

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Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Taylor & Francis. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Paul Kelley, Steven W. Lockley, Russell G. Foster, Jonathan Kelley. Synchronizing education to adolescent biology: ‘let teens sleep, start school later’. Learning, Media and Technology, 2014; 1 DOI: 10.1080/17439884.2014.942666

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Lack of sleep America's top health problem, doctors say

 

In this story:

ATLANTA (CNN) -- Sleep apnea, narcolepsy, insomnia: these are just a few of the recognized disorders that keep their afflicted from getting enough sleep. Nearly half of all Americans have difficulty sleeping.

Some people may show great bravado about getting a job done on little sleep. Some even brag about having trouble sleeping, claiming their work proves they didn't need the rest anyway. Yet the truth is that fatigue is dangerous. A growing collection of research indicates that America's sleep problems have reached epidemic proportions, and may be the country's number-one health problem.

The costs of not sleeping

We don't know what sleep is. We do know we need it to survive. Sleep restores us. Those who sleep fewer than six hours a night don't live as long as those who sleep seven hours or more.

Lack of sleep can be expensive: The National Commission on Sleep Disorders estimates that sleep deprivation costs $150 billion a year in higher stress and reduced workplace productivity.

It may also lead to personal and public tragedy. There are indications that the Challenger disaster, the Chernobyl nuclear reactor meltdown and the Exxon Valdez oil spill can all be partly linked to people suffering from a severe lack of sleep.

High-risk careers associated with little sleep

Dr. Serena Koenig, 13 hours into a 36-hour shift at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, admits that her grueling schedule allows no room for error.

"You do not have the luxury of being tired. You have to take care of that patient," she said. "If you make a mistake, that patient could be hurt by it and the fear of making mistakes keeps you clear thinking. I have never made a mistake because I have been tired."

Her hospital pays close attention to problems associated with sleep deprivation among health care workers, but only recent research has shown that sleeplessness is a major problem in many fields of work.

Pete Filbrick has been a truck driver for 30 years. He, too, has never made a mistake. But he knows what can happen.

"I haven't seen the figures on that, but I would think fatigue would play a pretty big role in almost any accident," Filbrick said.

Figures suggest that driver fatigue contributes to 30 to 40 percent of all heavy truck accidents. Many truckers simply can't recognize the point that their bodies are tired enough for them to fall asleep.

Want To Lower Your Blood Pressure? Get Seven Hours of Sleep Nightly

 

Rosanne Olson/Photolibrary/Getty Images

Updated September 07, 2014.
Written or reviewed by a board-certified physician. See About.com's Medical Review Board.

  If your blood pressure is difficult to get under control, you may want to ask yourself how much sleep that you are getting each night. If you are not getting six to seven hours of sleep each night this can be a major impediment to lowering your blood pressure. Sleep deprivation has major consequences above and beyond higher blood pressure, including a  weakened immune system, increased work of the adrenal glands, decrease in cognitive abilities to name a few. Those who are middle aged (both men and women) and women seem to have a higher risk of resistant hypertension due to the effects of sleep deprivation.

There are several ways that sleep deprivation can contribute to high blood pressure.

1) Sleep deprivation impairs your circadian rhythms.

2) Sleep deprivation increases insulin resistance. Lack of sleep can actually increase your risk of developing diabetes. There is a connection between numbers 1 and 2, i.e, sleeping less hours can disrupt your body's rhythms. This influences hormone production which can impair the metabolism or processing of insulin and glucose. Higher insulin levels, due to the phenomenon of insulin resistance is linked to the development of hypertension.

3) Sleep deprivation is associated with the development of endothelial dysfunction. An article from the peer-reviewed journal Sleep in March 2014 actually examined this association. This was a laboratory based study, but the results were interesting and different from what I would have expected. The connection between high blood pressure and endothelial dysfunction is well-established and each can be a cause and effect of the other. This article demonstrated that the sleep deprivation causes endothelial dysfunction independent of blood pressure. Lack of sleep in the animals in this study caused there to be a lack of production of endothelial derived relaxing factor (EDRF) which dilates the blood vessel. This hormone is important over time for keeping the blood vessels elastic and pliable. This means that sleep deprivation, independent of its effects on blood pressure, can affect the health of the blood vessels over time.

4) Sleep deprivation can exaggerate the body's stress response. I have written about in prior blog posts the effects of increased cortisol secretion on diminishing sleep quality. This article from the journal Health Psychology in May 2014 looks at this from another angle: the body's reaction to stress is magnified big time. Lack of sleep can increase the body's secretion of cortisol in response to a stressful event. Many, if not all of us, deal with multiple stressors, both physical and psychological on a daily basis. Our body's ability to deal with these stresses can be compromised because of increased cortisol production in reaction to these stressful events.

5) Lack of sleep causes weight gain. This article talks about " sleep debt" and its relation to weight gain. This is likely due to the cumulative effects of numbers 1-4 listed here in addition to other mechanisms that are theorized in the chapter. Again, sleep is important in keeping the body in balance.

How Can You Get Out of Sleep Debt?

One of the biggest ways is to shut off the cell phone, computer, smart phone and all unnecessary electronic media. This probably contributes to late nights and sleep debt. Realize that sleep is a necessary part of your life for your over health, not a commodity that can be exploited.

The more that we learn about the science of health and high blood pressure, in many ways, it means going back to the basics: eating right, exercising, and getting a good night's sleep.

The less older adults sleep, the faster their brains age, new study suggests

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Researchers at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore (Duke-NUS) have found evidence that the less older adults sleep, the faster their brains age. These findings, relevant in the context of Singapore's rapidly ageing society, pave the way for future work on sleep loss and its contribution to cognitive decline, including dementia.

Past research has examined the impact of sleep duration on cognitive functions in older adults. Though faster brain ventricle enlargement is a marker for cognitive decline and the development of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, the effects of sleep on this marker have never been measured.

The Duke-NUS study examined the data of 66 older Chinese adults, from the Singapore-Longitudinal Aging Brain Study(1). Participants underwent structural MRI brain scans measuring brain volume and neuropsychological assessments testing cognitive function every two years. Additionally, their sleep duration was recorded through a questionnaire. Those who slept fewer hours showed evidence of faster ventricle enlargement and decline in cognitive performance.

"Our findings relate short sleep to a marker of brain aging," said Dr June Lo, the lead author and a Duke-NUS Research Fellow. "Work done elsewhere suggests that seven hours a day(2) for adults seems to be the sweet spot for optimal performance on computer based cognitive tests. In coming years we hope to determine what's good for cardio-metabolic and long term brain health too," added Professor Michael Chee, senior author and Director of the Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke-NUS.

Notes:

1) The Singapore-Longitudinal Aging Brain Study (started in 2005) follows a cohort of healthy adults of Chinese ethnicity aged 55 years and above. This study is one of the few in Asia that tracks the brain structures and cognitive functions of older adults so closely.

2) Data collected by Lumosity, an online brain-training program, suggests that self-reported sleep duration of seven hours is associated with the best cognitive test scores in over 150,000 adults. As of now it is unknown if this amount of sleep is optimum for cardio metabolic and long-term brain health.

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Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. June C. Lo, Kep Kee Loh, Hui Zheng, Sam K.Y. Sim, Michael W.L. Chee. Sleep Duration and Age-Related Changes in Brain Structure and Cognitive Performance. SLEEP, 2014; DOI: 10.5665/sleep.3832

Too little sleep can affect many aspects of young kids’ health

 

(Reuters Health) - In a new study, children who regularly got too little sleep had worse physical, emotional and social health than those who slept the average amount.

“Sleep is important for a lot of reasons, and can influence health and well-being and cognitive functioning,” said lead author Christopher A. Magee. “The typical sleep pattern appeared to have the best outcomes as measured in this paper,” he told Reuters Health in an email.

But since this is a relatively new area of research, the researchers can’t say for sure that this pattern of sleep causes better health and wellbeing, said Magee, of the University of Wollongong in Australia.

Genetics do influence the regulation of sleep, but the results suggest that environmental and social factors, like household financial hardship, may play a role as well, he said.

The researchers used Medicare Australia data from a group of almost 3,000 children to track the kids’ health and quality of life at four points between birth and seven years of age.

Parents completed sleep journals and answered interview questions about their children’s sleep patterns, and included how often their children had experienced problems like difficulty waking, feeling sad, problems socializing or missing school due to illness, which were meant to rate the child’s overall quality of life.

Researchers divided the kids into four groups based on their sleep patterns: “typical sleepers” slept the most as infants, about 14 hours, and gradually decreased their sleep duration until age seven, when they got an average of almost 11 hours per night.

“Persistent short sleepers” showed a similar decline in sleep hours over time, but they always got about an hour less sleep than the typical sleepers. Only 11 percent of kids fell into this group.

“Initially short sleepers” started out like the short sleepers, but by age five or six were getting as much sleep as typical sleepers. This group included 45 percent of the kids, followed by typical sleepers, who made up 40 percent.

Less than three percent of kids had the most unusual sleep pattern, which started short, with sleeps of less than 10 hours in infancy, gradually increasing with time. Researchers called this group the “poor sleepers.”

Poor and initially short sleepers tended to have a lower physical functioning score on the quality of life scale than typical sleepers. Persistent short sleepers also had the physical disadvantage, as well as lower emotional and social functioning scores, according to the results published in Pediatrics.

Following one group of kids for seven years helps to focus on the problem of too little sleep as a chronic issue, not just one bad night, said Dr. Elsie M. Taveras, director of Pediatric Population Health Management at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Taveras worked on a similar study published in the same issue of the journal, following 1,000 kids from age six months to seven years, and found that kids who chronically slept too little tended to have more body fat at age seven than longer sleepers.

Kids who had shortened sleep most often were more than twice as likely to be obese than kids who rarely or never had short sleep duration. That’s a significant increase in risk, she said.

“Two times the odds of obesity for any risk factor for obesity is very rare,” she said.

In Taveras’ study, short sleepers not only had more fat, but more abdominal fat than longer sleepers.

“Abdominal fat is particularly hazardous for later cardiometabolic diseases,” like diabetes and heart disease, she told Reuters Health by phone.

Taking the results of her study with the results of the Australian quality of life study, the amount of sleep kids get seems to be linked to a huge number of areas of health, she said.

According to recommendations from the National Sleep Foundation and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, toddlers need more than 12 hours of sleep per day, children up to four years old need between 10 and 11 hours and up to age seven kids should get at least 10 hours, Taveras said.

“For many children, good sleep could be promoted by having regular bedtimes, limiting household noise, and limiting TV viewing and electronic media near bedtime,” Magee said, but some sleep problems like sleep apnea or primary insomnia may need specialized treatment.

“If a child has persistent problems sleeping and this is impacting on their normal daily activities, then it may be a good idea to seek some advice,” he said. “A general practitioner could be a good starting point.”

SOURCE: bit.ly/1gGJ0KR and bit.ly/1vsqt9h Pediatrics, May 19, 2014.

What Are the Symptoms of Sleep Deprivation?

 

By Brandon Peters, M.D.

Updated February 24, 2014

Written or reviewed by a board-certified physician. See About.com's Medical Review Board.

Sleep Deprivation Symptoms

Sleep deprivation, whether it occurs over the short or long term, can lead to some characteristic symptoms. These resulting symptoms may range from the relatively expected and commonplace, such as sleepiness, to somewhat more serious complaints of hallucinations and memory problems.

Before exploring these symptoms, it is important to understand that the degree of severity will depend on two factors. First, you will obviously suffer more from symptoms of sleep deprivation the longer the time that you spend awake. As an example, staying up an extra hour to watch your favorite television show is far different from getting only four hours of sleep. This may be especially true if the sleep deprivation occurs night after night or if it becomes extreme (such as "pulling an all-nighter").

Secondly, the intensity of your symptoms will vary depending on your circadian clock. Therefore, the symptoms of sleep deprivation will seem much more pronounced during times when you should naturally be asleep.

Explore some of the common symptoms of sleep deprivation, and you may recognize complaints that might encourage you to get the sleep that you need.