Increasingly severe sleep-related breathing disorders in older men appear to be associated with a greater risk of abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias), according to a report in the June 22, 2009, issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. In addition, different types of breathing problems appear more closely associated with different categories of arrhythmia.
Sleep-disordered breathing is a common condition, according to background information in the article. It causes a number of physiologic events that could be stressful to the cardiovascular system, including inadequate blood oxygen levels at night and activation of the sympathetic nervous system (associated with the body’s fight-or-flight response).
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By Deborah Halber, Picower Institute
Special to Awake In America
Experts have long suspected that part of the process of turning fleeting short-term memories into lasting long-term memories occurs during sleep. Now, researchers at the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics of MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have shown that mice prevented from "replaying" their waking experiences while asleep do not remember them as well as mice who are able to perform this function.
The work, which has a profound implication in the century-old search for the purpose of sleep, will be reported in the June 25, 2009 issue of Neuron.
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According to a research abstract presented on June 8, 2009, at Sleep 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, race significantly influences the risk of obesity conferred by short sleep duration, with blacks having a greater risk than whites.
Results indicate that short sleep was associated with obesity, with the adjusted odds ratios for black Americans (1.78) and white Americans (1.43) showing that blacks had a 35 percent greater risk than whites of obesity associated with short sleep. The prevalence of obesity (body mass index of 30 or higher) was 52 percent for blacks and 38 percent for whites. The prevalence of short sleep (5 hours or less) was 12 percent for blacks and eight percent for whites.
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Study findings published in the June 15, 2009 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine show that complaints of fatigue and tiredness in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) improved significantly with good adherence to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, suggesting that — like the symptom of excessive daytime sleepiness — these complaints are important symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea.
Results indicate that good adherence to CPAP therapy for an average of five or more hours per night resolved baseline complaints of fatigue in 45 of 80 participants (56 percent), tiredness in 56 of 96 participants (58 percent) and sleepiness in 48 of 72 participants (67 percent); improvement of each symptom was significantly better among CPAP-adherent participants than among inadequately treated subjects. A baseline complaint of lack of energy also was resolved in 47 of 100 participants with good CPAP adherence, but this improvement failed to reach statistical significance when compared with inadequately treated participants.
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According to a research abstract presented at Sleep 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, sleep selectively preserves memories that are emotionally salient and relevant to future goals when sleep follows soon after learning. Effects persist for as long as four months after the memory is created.
Results indicate that the sleeping brain seems to calculate what is most important about an experience and selects only what is adaptive for consolidation and long-term storage. Across long delays of 24 hours, or even three-to-four months, sleeping soon after learning preserved the trade-off as compared to waiting an entire day before going to sleep.
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Sleep apnea has long been known to be associated with obesity, but a new study published in the June 2009 issue of Diabetes Care finds the disorder is widely undiagnosed among obese individuals with type 2 diabetes — nearly 87 percent of participants reported symptoms, but were never diagnosed.
For those with untreated sleep apnea, it doesn’t just mean their sleep is disrupted; existing research shows that it can also mean an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
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According to a research abstract presented at Sleep 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, a link exists between the severity of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and weight gain.
Results indicate that people with an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), the average of the combined episodes of apnea and hypopnea that occur per hour of sleep, of over 15 had an increase in body mass index (BMI) of 0.52 kg/m2 compared to those with an AHI between five and 15, who saw an increase of 0.22 kg/m2.
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Research findings presented Wednesday, June 10, 2009, 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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