5 tips for a better night's sleep

 

Sleep is a critical part of managing stress and making healthy choices. Get a restful night's sleep with these tips. Sleep is a remarkably productive and critical part of life; it's the time when the brain and body recharge for another day. Yet, most of us simply aren’t getting enough sleep. Stress, everyday demands and — yes, your smartphone — are likely culprits negatively impacting your sleep. Either too little or too much sleep can make it tough to function at your best. Sleep better and wake up feeling more rested with this advice. Eat meals (especially dinner) at the same time each day and at least two to three hours before bedtime. Limit naps to 30 minutes at least six to eight hours before bedtime. Stay active. Any activity is good. For best results, get moving 20 to 30 minutes most days, at least four to six hours before bedtime. Limit your caffeine intake and avoid it after noon. Also avoid stimulants such as decongestants and nicotine. Go to bed at the same time every night and get up about the same time every morning — even on weekends. A healthy amount of sleep for most adults is seven to eight hours a night. If self-care techniques don't help, talk to your health care provider. Sleep problems are treatable. http://diet.mayoclinic.org/diet/motivate/tips-for-better-night-sleep?xid=nl_MayoClinicDiet_20150901

Pre-sleep drinking disrupts sleep

 

January 17, 2015 Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research For individuals who drink before sleeping, alcohol initially acts as a sedative -- marked by the delta frequency electroencephalogram (EEG) activity of Slow Wave Sleep (SWS) -- but is later associated with sleep disruption. A study of the effects of alcohol on sleep EEG power spectra in college students has found that pre-sleep drinking not only causes an initial increase in SWS-related delta power but also causes an increase in frontal alpha power, which is thought to reflect disturbed sleep. For individuals who drink before sleeping, alcohol initially acts as a sedative -- marked by the delta frequency electroencephalogram (EEG) activity of Slow Wave Sleep (SWS) -- but is later associated with sleep disruption. Significant reductions in EEG delta frequency activity and power also occur with normal development between the ages of 12 and 16; likewise this is a time when alcohol is commonly consumed for the first time, with dramatic increases in drinking occurring among collage-age individuals. A study of the effects of alcohol on sleep EEG power spectra in college students has found that pre-sleep drinking not only causes an initial increase in SWS-related delta power but also causes an increase in frontal alpha power, which is thought to reflect disturbed sleep. Results will be published in the February 2015 online-only issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View. "People likely tend to focus on the commonly reported sedative properties of alcohol, which is reflected in shorter times to fall asleep, particularly in adults, rather than the sleep disruption that occurs later in the night," said Christian L. Nicholas, National Health & Medical Research Council Peter Doherty Research Fellow in the Sleep Research Laboratory at The University of Melbourne as well as corresponding author for the study. "The reduction in delta frequency EEG activity we see across the ages is thought to represent normal brain maturational processes as the adolescent brain continues to develop to full maturity," said Nicholas. "Although the exact function of non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep, and in particular SWS, is a topic of debate, it is thought to reflect sleep need and quality; thus any disruption to this may affect the underlying restorative properties of sleep and be detrimental to daytime functioning." Nicholas and his colleagues recruited 24 participants (12 female, 12 male), healthy 18- to 21-year-old social drinkers who had consumed less than seven standard drinks per week during the previous 30 days. Each participant underwent two conditions: pre-sleep alcohol as well as a placebo, followed by standard polysomnography with comprehensive EEG recordings. Results showed that alcohol increased SWS delta power during NREM. However, there was a simultaneous increase in frontal alpha power. "For individuals researching sleep in the field of alcohol studies," said Nicholas, "our findings indicate that care needs to be taken when interpreting increases in 'visually scored' SWS associated with alcohol consumption. Increases in SWS, which traditionally would be interpreted as a good thing, can be associated with more subtle changes indicating disrupted sleep, such as the increases we observed in alpha activity, which are revealed when more detailed micro-structural components of the sleep electroencephalogram are assessed." Nicholas explained that the increase in frontal alpha power that occurs as a result of pre-sleep drinking likely reflects a disruption of the normal properties of NREM slow wave sleep. "Similar increases in alpha-delta activity, which are associated with poor or unrefreshing sleep and daytime function, have been observed in individuals with chronic pain conditions," he said. "Thus, if sleep is being disrupted regularly by pre-sleep alcohol consumption, particularly over long periods of time, this could have significant detrimental effects on daytime wellbeing and neurocognitive function such as learning and memory processes." Alcohol is not a sleep aid, said Nicholas. "The take-home message here is that alcohol is not actually a particularly good sleep aid even though it may seem like it helps you get to sleep quicker. In fact, the quality of the sleep you get is significantly altered and disrupted." Story Source: The above story is based on materials provided by Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Julia K. M. Chan, John Trinder, Ian M. Colrain, Christian L. Nicholas. The Acute Effects of Alcohol on Sleep Electroencephalogram Power Spectra in Late Adolescence. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 2015; DOI: 10.1111/acer.12621

Teens with earlier school start times have higher motor vehicle crash rates

 

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Accident scene (stock image). "When high school classes begin early in the morning, we ask teens to shine when their biological clock tells them to sleep," said American Academy of Sleep Medicine President Dr. Timothy Morgenthaler, a national spokesperson for the Healthy Sleep Project. "Many do not get adequate sleep as a result. Smarter school start times, that are more consistent with sleep needs, will improve students' safety, overall health, mood and academic performance."

A new study suggests that teen drivers who start class earlier in the morning are involved in significantly more motor vehicle accidents than peers with a later high school start time. The results underscore the importance of the "Awake at the Wheel" campaign of the National Healthy Sleep Awareness Project.

Results show that the weekday crash rate for teen drivers during the 2009 to 2010 school year was about 29 percent higher in Chesterfield County, Va., where high school classes began at 7:20 a.m., than in adjacent Henrico County, Va., where classes started at 8:45 a.m. Similar results were found for the 2010 to 2011 school year, when the weekday crash rate for 16-17 year old teens in Chesterfield County was about 27 percent higher than for those in Henrico County. In contrast, there was no difference in adult crash rates in the two counties for either year. A secondary analysis evaluating the causes and types of crashes found that Chesterfield County adolescents had a significantly higher rate of run-off-road crashes, which is a common feature of drowsy driving accidents.

"There are more and more data suggesting that insufficient sleep is common in our teens and that early high school start times are a contributor to teens' reduced sleep," said principal investigator and lead author Dr. Robert Vorona, associate professor in the Division of Sleep Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Va. "Insufficient sleep appears to have deleterious consequences such as decrements in mood and increased risk taking, impaired academics and increased crash rates."

The results corroborate the findings of a previous study by Vorona's team that evaluated teen crash rates from 2007 to 2008. Results of the current study are published in the November issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

"When high school classes begin early in the morning, we ask teens to shine when their biological clock tells them to sleep," said American Academy of Sleep Medicine President Dr. Timothy Morgenthaler, a national spokesperson for the Healthy Sleep Project. "Many do not get adequate sleep as a result. Smarter school start times, that are more consistent with sleep needs, will improve students' safety, overall health, mood and academic performance."

Recently the Healthy Sleep Project launched the "Awake at the Wheel" campaign to increase public awareness of the risks of drowsy driving. More details are available at http://www.projecthealthysleep.org.

The study involved an analysis of data provided by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. During both school years there were more than 520 motor vehicle accidents involving teen drivers in Chesterfield County and more than 320 teen crashes in Henrico County.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that adolescents get a little more than nine hours of nightly sleep for optimal health and daytime alertness during the critical transition from childhood to adulthood. The AASM advises parents and local school boards to work together to implement high school start times that allow teens to get the healthy sleep they need to meet their full potential.

A new report from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety estimates that drowsy driving may cause 328,000 motor vehicle accidents and 6,400 fatal crashes on U.S. roads each year. Previous data analysis by AAA also shows that the prevalence of drowsy driving crashes is highest among drivers between the ages of 16 and 24 years.

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Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Robert Daniel Vorona, Mariana Szklo-Coxe, Rajan Lamichhane, J. Catesby Ware, Ann McNallen, David Leszczyszyn. Adolescent Crash Rates and School Start Times in Two Central Virginia Counties, 2009-2011: A Follow-up Study to a Southeastern Virginia Study, 2007-2008. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2014; DOI: 10.5664/jcsm.4192

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Sleep apnea may contribute to kidney disease progression

 

November 14, 2014

American Society of Nephrology (ASN)

Sleep apnea may accelerate kidney function decline in diabetic patients with kidney disease, a study shows. "This study shows that a high-risk score for obstructive sleep apnea is common in non-dialysis chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients with diabetic nephropathy and is associated with more rapid loss of renal function," the investigators concluded. "This simple approach identifies patients at higher risk of CKD progression."

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Sleep apnea may accelerate kidney function decline in diabetic patients with kidney disease, according to a study that will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2014 November 11-16 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA.

Type 2 diabetes often contributes to the development of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Because obstructive sleep apnea is common in patients with type 2 diabetes, investigators wonder whether disordered sleep might play a role in the link between diabetes and kidney dysfunction. To investigate, researchers led by Roberto Pisoni, MD (Medical University of South Carolina) analyzed information on 56 patients with diabetes and CKD who had undergone screening for obstructive sleep apnea through the use of a questionnaire.

The researchers found that 61% of patients had a high score on the questionnaire. These individuals had a significantly lower level of kidney function than those with a low score.

"This study shows that a high-risk score for obstructive sleep apnea is common in non-dialysis CKD patients with diabetic nephropathy and is associated with more rapid loss of renal function," the investigators concluded. "This simple approach identifies patients at higher risk of CKD progression."

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Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by American Society of Nephrology (ASN). Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Falling asleep: Revealing the point of transition

 

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How can we tell when someone has fallen asleep? To answer this question, scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital have developed a new statistical method and behavioural task to track the dynamic process of falling asleep.

Dr Michael Prerau, Dr Patrick Purdon, and their colleagues used the evolution of brain activity, behaviour, and other physiological signals during the sleep onset process to automatically track the continuous changes in wakefulness experienced as a subject falls asleep.

The study, publishing today in PLOS Computational Biology, suggests that it is not when one falls asleep, but how one falls asleep that matters. Using these methods, the authors quantified a subset of healthy subjects who behaved as though they were awake even though their brains, by current clinical definitions, were asleep.

Understanding the process of falling asleep is an important problem in neuroscience and sleep medicine. Given that current clinical methods are time-consuming, subjective, and simplify the sleep onset process in ways that limit the accuracy, the authors combine the state-of-the-art in neuroscience and signal processing to design an accurate and efficient way to characterise sleep.

The researchers replaced a standard measure, the behavioural response task, which uses sounds that can disturb sleep, with a new task centred on a subject's focused natural breathing -- an act which may even promote sleep. They modeled the physiological and behavioural changes occurring during sleep onset as a continuum that can develop gradually over time.

The identification of some subjects who continued to perform the task even though current clinical measures would say they were asleep suggests a natural variation in the way cortical and thalamic networks interact in these people.

"Ultimately, such methods could greatly improve clinicians' ability to diagnose sleep disorders and to more precisely measure the effects of sleep drugs and other medications," remarked Dr Prerau.

Future work will look to improve the understanding of the mechanisms underlying neural dynamics during sleep, as well as the development of more sophisticated diagnostic and monitoring tools.

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Story Source:

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Michael J. Prerau, Katie E. Hartnack, Gabriel Obregon-Henao, Aaron Sampson, Margaret Merlino, Karen Gannon, Matt T. Bianchi, Jeffrey M. Ellenbogen, Patrick L. Purdon. Tracking the Sleep Onset Process: An Empirical Model of Behavioral and Physiological Dynamics. PLoS Computational Biology, 2014; 10 (10): e1003866 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003866

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