Tag Archives: Sleep Health

Study: “Dysfunctional And Variable Sleep” Increases Risks Of Cardiovascular Disease

From a MedPageToday.com online article (March 2, 2020):

Journal of the American College of CardiologyDysfunctional sleep likely is by far the most prevalent comorbidity in CVD. This makes it essential to explore the nature of sleep, but this is reliant on the enthusiasm of clinician scientists,” according to the editorialists.

“In modern society, both the quantity and quality of sleep are negatively influenced by factors such as longer hours of work, more shift work, artificial light and cell phones, all leading to self-reported daytime symptoms such as fatigue, tiredness, and sleepiness,”

A larger range in individual sleep duration and sleep timing across 7 days of wrist actigraphy was associated with significantly more CVD events over a median 4.9 years of follow-up (P=0.002 for both trends).

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“2020 Philips Sleep Survey”: 50% Of People Sleep Poorly, With Decrease In Those Trying To Improve It

From a Philips “2020 Sleep Survey” online release (Mar 2, 2020):

Philips Global Sleep Survey 2020“The decrease in people taking action to improve sleep is alarming, especially when it is clear people around the world deeply value sleep. Sleep deficit impacts people both mentally and physically, so we need to educate people on available sleep resources and empower them with the confidence that their efforts will pay off,” said Mark Aloia, PhD, Global Lead for Behavior Change, Sleep & Respiratory Care at Philips.

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Only 49% of people are satisfied with their sleep, with worry/stress reported as the most limiting factor to a good night’s sleep (33%). Interestingly, fewer people in 2020 are taking action to improve sleep compared to 2019, with nearly all listed strategies to improve sleep lower or consistent in 2020 when compared to 2019 results. For example, reading before bed was the most popular strategy used to improve sleep in 2019 (39%), but only 28% of people report reading to improve sleep in 2020. Other notable distinctions in sleep-related behavior appeared across age and gender differences.
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Study: Added Sugars In Diet Lowers Sleep Quality For Women, Increasing Heart Disease Risks (AHA)

Journal of the American Heart Association study (Feb 17, 2020):

American Heart Association AHA logoThe association between poor overall sleep quality and greater consumption of added sugars observed in the current study aligns with previous findings that intakes of confectionary and sugar‐sweetened beverages were higher in middle‐aged Japanese women reporting poor, compared with good, sleep quality.

Background – Poor sleep increases cardiovascular disease risk, and diet likely contributes to this relationship. However, there are limited epidemiological data on the relationship between measures of sleep quality and habitual dietary patterns. This study examined these associations in a diverse sample of women.

Both short sleep duration and poor sleep quality are associated with the development of obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular disease (CVD), and it is likely that the relationship between sleep and cardiometabolic disease risk is partially mediated by diet.5 Indeed, experimental studies demonstrate that restricting sleep duration leads to increases in energy intake, confirming associations of short sleep with higher energy intakes in observational population‐based studies.

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Sleep Studies: Even Low-Levels Of Light At Night Causes Diabetes In Elderly

From a Sleep Medicine online release (January 2020):

Sleep Medicine January 2020Our findings suggest that LAN (low-level light at night) exposure increases the incidence of diabetes in a general elderly population. Further research involving a large cohort with new-onset diabetes is warranted to elucidate these findings.

Highlights

  • Humans are commonly exposed to light at night.
  • Higher light exposure at night was significantly associated with higher incidence rate of diabetes.
  • The association was consistent in the analysis using the cut-off values of LAN as 3 and 5 lux.
  • Strengths include large samples adjusting a number of confounders.

The circadian timing system, located within the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus, controls fundamental energy homeostasis. Clock gene mutations induce obesity in mice, and the disruption of internal circadian rhythms decreases daily energy expenditures and leptin levels in humans. Light information received by the brain influences human circadian timing and metabolism; low-level light at night (LAN) significantly increased body mass and led to prediabetes in mice. In humans, bedroom LAN affected obesity parameters; however, the association between LAN and the incidence of diabetes in humans has not been studied.

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Sleep Health: “The Neurology And Psychology Of Insomnia”

From a Psychology Today online article:

For those with insomnia, however, the stressor appears to be the lack of sleep, and the desire for sleep becomes a stressor in itself. In other words, the fixation on getting sleep leads to feelings of stress over not falling asleep, which begins a vicious loop. According to a model first proposed by Kales et al. in 1976, patients The Anatomy of Insomniacs infograpiccan develop a conditioned fear of not being able to sleep, which puts them in a state of hyperarousal when they attempt to fall asleep. This makes their inability to sleep a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Insomnia is the most common sleep condition in the world, with half of adults globally reporting occasional episodes. Chronic insomnia, though far less prevalent, affects as many as 10 to 15 percent of the adult population.

Though these sleep problems are extremely common, the neurobiological mechanisms behind insomnia are not entirely understood. Research suggests that emotional stressors do play an outsized role in contributing to sleep problems, and it is well documented that mood and anxiety disorders are common comorbidities with insomnia. This seems like common sense. Emotional arousal, whether due to a state of anxiety or because of intrusive thoughts, makes it difficult to relax, thereby inhibiting one’s ability to either initiate sleep or get back to sleep after waking.

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Studies: Alzheimer’s Disease Linked To Poor Sleep In Older Adults

From a MedPageToday online article:

Science Translational Medicine“Amyloid is important in initiating disease, but the actual damage in the brain is probably due to the accumulation of tau,” Holtzman told MedPage Today. “Normally, tau protein is inside cells, but there is more and more evidence suggesting that its spread to different parts of the brain is responsible for the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.”

Two studies in January explored how sleep might be associated with Alzheimer’s tau pathology. The first, led by Brendan Lucey, MD, and David Holtzman, MD, both of Washington University in St. Louis, found that older adults who had less slow-wave sleep had higher levels of brain tau.

The findings, published in Science Translational Medicine, suggested that poor quality sleep in late life may signal deteriorating brain health.

Sleep patterns predicted amyloid and tau burden, reported Matthew Walker, PhD, of the University of California Berkeley, and co-authors, in June.

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New Books: “The Shapeless Unease – A Year Of Not Sleeping” By Samantha Harvey (January 2020)

The Shapeless Unease A Year of Not Sleeping Samantha Harvey book January 2020In 2016, Samantha Harvey began to lose sleep. She tried everything to appease her wakefulness: from medication to therapy, changes in her diet to changes in her living arrangements. Nothing seemed to help.

The Shapeless Unease is Harvey’s darkly funny and deeply intelligent anatomy of her insomnia, an immersive interior monologue of a year without one of the most basic human needs. Original and profound, and narrated with a lucid breathlessness, this is a startlingly insightful exploration of memory, writing and influence, death and the will to survive, from “this generation’s Virginia Woolf” (Telegraph).

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Reading Lists: “The Best Neuroscience Books Of 2019” (TheScientist)

TheScientist Logo

Bury your nose in tales of neurosyphilis, gender identity, the medical mysteries of sleep disorders, and more. JAMES DOLBOW

The Nocturnal Brain by Guy Leschziner

The Nocturnal Brain: Nightmares, Neuroscience and the Secret World of Sleep 

Inspired by the legendary book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by the late Oliver Sacks, neurologist and sleep scientist Guy Leschziner tells the curious true stories of his patients, their fascinating sleep disorders, and the neuroscience behind each. Also like the works of Sacks, The Nocturnal Brain is written with considerable introspection and wonder about each patient’s case, taking you on a journey from the first patient encounter, to diagnosis, and through treatment. The unusual and often bizarre cases will keep you intrigued and immersed, and make this unique book one you will find yourself looking forward to making time to read.

How The Brain Lost Its Mind Allan H. Ropper MD and Brian David BurrellHow The Brain Lost Its Mind: Sex, Hysteria, and the Riddle of Mental Health

In this mindful reflection on American and European pasts, authors Allan H. Ropper and Brian Burrell, also the writers of Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole, address our modern concept of mental illness by reviewing the interesting true story of the syphilis epidemic of the 19th century. This little known and fascinating history of neurosyphilis—how it was handled by society and medicine and how it shaped today’s understanding of mental illness—helps address not only why many stigmas exist, but why so many have persisted. This book will take you on an incredible journey through the puzzling diagnosis, eclectic treatments, and lasting social effects of the neurosyphilis epidemic of the 1800s, as well as offer important insight into the difference between diseases of the brain and the mind. This book is perfect for any scientist, psychologist, or historian with even the smallest interest in medical history or mental health theory.

Compassionomics The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence That Caring Makes A Difference Stephen Trzeciak and Anthony MazzarelliCompassionomics: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence that Caring Makes a Difference

It is no secret that today’s medical atmosphere scarsely resembles anything similar to that of 50 years ago. Many have argued that this is in large part due to a lack of compassion in the modern medical system. If this is the case, where have we gone wrong, and is there scientific evidence to support that compassion is even beneficial to healthcare, personal relationships, and professional lives? These questions are raised and explored by authors Stephen Trzeciak and Anthony Mazzarelli through the telling of true stories of medical providers and patients that help demonstrate the incredible effect of the human connection. Coupled perfectly with these gripping stories are easily readable summaries of decades of research studying the effects of compassion as well as its implications in our lives. Addressing topics from healthcare cost to provider burnout, from caring for others to caring for ourselves, this evidence-based analysis of the importance of compassion is a must-read for anyone interested in the social science and psychology of the care we give in all settings of our lives.

To read more: https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/opinion–the-best-neuroscience-books-of-2019-66863

Sleep Podcasts: Older Adults Are More Likely To Suffer From Chronic (Long-Term) Insomnia

InsomniaBeyond the constant tossing and turning of a sleepless night, it might surprise you to know that insomnia is affecting a fair hunk of the Australian population. A recent study released by the Sleep Health Foundation found that 15 per cent of us suffer from chronic insomnia disorder, and very few people are choosing to access help.

Guests:

Professor Robert Adams, Professor in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine for Flinders University, and lead researcher for Chronic Insomnia Disorder in Australia study for Sleep Health Foundation

Dr Moira Junge, health psychologist specialising in treating sleep disorders, board member for Sleep Health Foundation

Website: https://radio.abc.net.au/programitem/pga7dxBbm7