May 20, 2012
By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter
SUNDAY, May 20 (HealthDay News) — Sleep apnea has already been linked to a host of adverse health problems, such as high blood pressure and heart disease. Now, new research suggests that in people who already have cancer, the sleep disorder may raise their risk of dying from cancer.
People with the most severe sleep apnea — those who have 30 or more episodes of low or no oxygen in an hour of sleep — had almost five times the risk of cancer death compared to someone without sleep apnea.
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May 14, 2012
By Maureen Salamon
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, May 14 (HealthDay News) — Sleepwalkers on TV and in movies are often played for drama or laughs, but the phenomenon is surprisingly common in American households, a large, new study suggests.
In what they said is the first research in three decades on sleepwalking prevalence in the United States, scientists from Stanford University School of Medicine found that about 3.6 percent of U.S. adults are prone to sleepwalking, a higher proportion than previously thought. Nocturnal wandering is also tied to certain psychiatric conditions such as depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
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May 10, 2012
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By Amanda Gardner
THURSDAY, May 10, 2012 (Health.com) — Do you wake up to the sound of an alarm each weekday? That may be a sign that your body clock doesn’t agree with your daily schedule, a situation that over time may open the door to weight gain and other health problems.
Researchers in Europe have coined the term “social jet lag” to describe the all-too common practice of following a different sleep schedule on weekdays versus the weekend. Our circadian rhythms are out of sync with our hectic work schedules, the theory goes, so each weekend we’re effectively flying back and forth between time zones without ever leaving the ground. Read More
May 1, 2012
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By Amanda Gardner
TUESDAY, May 1, 2012 (Health.com) — If you’re genetically predisposed to be overweight, the amount of sleep you get each night could make a big difference in how influential those genes are, a new study suggests.
After analyzing the sleep habits and body weight of 1,088 pairs of twins, including genetically identical ones, researchers concluded that people who get plenty of sleep—at least nine hours per night—have more control over their weight through their behavior than people who sleep less. Read More
March 30, 2012
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By Amanda Gardner
FRIDAY, March 30, 2012 (Health.com) — People with sleep apnea, a breathing disorder that causes frequent sleep disturbances, often feel tired and unfocused during the day. But that may not be the only fallout: New research suggests the disorder also dramatically increases the risk of depression.
Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that men with diagnosed sleep apnea are more than twice as likely as other men to exhibit signs of clinical depression, such as feeling hopeless and uninterested in everyday activities. The picture was even worse among women: A sleep apnea diagnosis increased the risk of depression symptoms fivefold. Read More
March 9, 2012
FRIDAY, March 9 (HealthDay News) — Losing an hour of sleep isn’t easy for anyone, but there are ways to make springing ahead during daylight saving time easier, an expert says.
This year, daylight saving time begins Sunday at 2 a.m. local time. Clocks get moved ahead one hour.
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March 8, 2012
THURSDAY, March 8 (HealthDay News) — Not only do you lose an hour of sleep after the clocks move ahead to daylight-saving time this weekend, but you also may be at increased risk for a heart attack, a heart expert claims.
“The Monday and Tuesday after moving the clocks ahead … is associated with a 10 percent increase in the risk of having a heart attack,” Martin Young, an associate professor in the cardiovascular disease division at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said in a university news release. “The opposite is true when falling back in October. This risk decreases by about 10 percent.”
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March 6, 2012
TUESDAY, March 6 (HealthDay News) — When faced with stressful situations, older adults who sleep poorly showed increased levels of a marker associated with inflammation, a new study finds.
The marker, called interleukin-6 (IL-6), has been linked to a variety of health issues, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and psychiatric problems.
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March 5, 2012
By Jenifer Goodwin
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, March 5 (HealthDay News) — Infants and toddlers who snore or have other breathing issues while sleeping are more likely to develop behavioral problems by the age of 7, new research suggests.
Those issues can include hyperactivity and inattention, emotional problems such as anxiety and depression, conduct problems such as rule-breaking and aggressiveness and problems with peer relationships, researchers said.
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March 2, 2012
By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter
FRIDAY, March 2 (HealthDay News) — Driven to sleeplessness by the effects of stress and the demands of their own biology, women are more likely than men to have serious sleep problems, experts say.
“We see insomnia much more frequently in women, probably at least 50 percent more often than men,” said Dr. Ryan Hays, an assistant professor of neurology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
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