Helping others sleep better every night!
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A study published in the November 1, 2009 issue of the journal Sleep shows that retirement is followed by a sharp decrease in the prevalence of sleep disturbances. Findings suggest that this general improvement in sleep is likely to result from the removal of work-related demands and stress rather than from actual health benefits of retirement.
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Bats, birds, box turtles, humans and many other animals share at least one thing in common: They sleep. Humans, in fact, spend roughly one-third of their lives asleep, but sleep researchers still don’t know why.
According to the journal Science, the function of sleep is one of the 125 greatest unsolved mysteries in science. Theories range from brain “maintenance” — including memory consolidation and pruning — to reversing damage from oxidative stress suffered while awake, to promoting longevity. None of these theories are well established, and many are mutually exclusive.
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Stroke victims who have obstructive sleep apnea die sooner than stroke victims who do not have sleep apnea or who have central sleep apnea, according to Swedish researchers, who will present their findings at the American Thoracic Society’s 2008 International Conference in Toronto on Monday, May 19.
The researchers followed 132 stroke patients over 10 years. Twenty-three of those patients had obstructive sleep apnea; 28 of those patients had central sleep apnea. Those with an obstructive apnea-hypopnea index of 15 or greater were 76 percent more likely to die earlier. Those with a lower apnea-hypopnea index of 10 were also at greater risk of early death.
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Women who get less than the recommended eight hours sleep a night are at higher risk of heart disease and heart-related problems than men with the same sleeping patterns.
Research by the University of Warwick and University College London has found that levels of inflammatory markers vary significantly with sleep duration in women, but not men.
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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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