Extra Sleep and Kids’ Behavior

Moderately increasing sleep in children made a big difference in their school behavior. Canadian researchers randomized 34 healthy children 7-11 who had no behavioral, academic or sleep problems to a group who received an extra hour of sleep and one who had an hour taken away from their usual sleep time (9.3 hrs.) for 5 nights. On…

Intensive mobile phone use affects young people´s sleep

Young adults who make particularly heavy use of mobile phones and computers run a greater risk of sleep disturbances, stress, and mental health problems.“Public health advice should therefore include information on the healthy use of this technology,” says researcher Sara Thomée, a doctoral student. Sara and her research colleagues at the University of Gothenburg’s Sahlgrenska…

Sleep Patterns Do Matter

Shorting sleep regularly or sleeping out of phase with the day-night cycles (typical of shift work) seems to produce physiological changes that predispose people to type 2 diabetes. Researchers confrimed this when 21 participants lived in a sleep laboratory with no contact with the outside world for 6 weeks. Fortunately, these changes reverted during the…

U.S. Workers Short on Sleep

The 2010 National Health Interview Survey has revealed that 41 million American workers sleep no more than 6 hours per night. This is most common among those working night shifts (44%) or rotating shifts (32%). However, 29% of those working regular day shifts also reported sleeping less than 6 hours per night. Sleep deprivation has…

Adolescent Obesity

Obesity is clearly a problem that has huge implications not only on the present health of those affected, but on their future health as well. Many researchers have examined the basis of this problem and how to correct it.With a prevalence approaching 20% in the United States, adolescent obesity has become a common problem for…

Fatigue Impacts Healthcare Provider Quality of Work

Do you perform at your best when you are sleep deprived? None of us do, including our healthcare providers, according to a sentinel event alert from the Joint Commission. When residents work recurring 24 hours shifts, there were 36% more adverse events than when they worked only 16 hours at a time. They also made…

Self-medicating for Anxiety Is A Fast Track To Alcohol/Drug Abuse

Alcohol and drug abuse is often associated with anxiety disorders, but which came first? A study of 34,653 adults followed for 3 years may help answer this question. Participants having anxiety disorder at the beginning of the study and self-medicated with alcohol and/or drugs, were 2.5 times as likely to develop alcohol abuse, and had…

Insomnia And Short Sleep Increases Risk Of Death In Men

The Penn State Cohort Study of over 741 men followed for 14 years finds that men suffering from insomnia and sleeping less than 6 hours nightly had 4 times the risk of dying than men that had normal sleep. A trend of insomnia and short sleep coexisting with diabetes and/or hypertension brings with it increased…

Infants and Toddlers Need Adequate Sleep for Healthy Development

The American Academy Sleep Medicine recommends that infants get a minimum of 14 hours of sleep per day and toddlers 12 to 14 hours for healthy development. Parents are urged to make this a priority in starting their child’s health habits on the right foot. Even if your toddler fusses in an attempt to stay…

Late Bedtimes in Very Young Can Have Long Lasting Consequences

Children who do not get early, adequate sleep before the age of 4 are more likely to develop ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder). A study of 6868 preschool children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort has found that early, regular bedtimes is a strong predictor of normal development. Lack of regular sleep in this age group…