According to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), exposure to electrical light between dusk and bedtime strongly suppresses melatonin levels and may impact physiologic processes regulated by melatonin signaling, such as sleepiness, thermoregulation, blood pressure and glucose homeostasis. [continue reading…]
Sleep disorder
Don’t hate those people who are perky and efficient after only a few hours of sleep. They can’t help it. New research suggests that a genetic mutation may explain why some people sleep less.
Researchers don’t know exactly why some people do fine with as little as 4 hours of sleep a night, while others need 12. “We’ve believed for a long time that there’s a genetic basis,” says Paul Shaw, a neurobiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. But scientists have only recently begun to ferret out which genes are responsible…..continue reading
Source: Science
Sleeplessness Rising in a Falling Economy
“Where care lodges, sleep will never lie,” says Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet.
Today, millions of Americans can attest to his insight. According to a poll from the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), 27 percent of Americans say personal finances, the economy or unemployment concerns are keeping them awake at night.
“Stress and anxiety can definitely impact sleep,” says Sunil Mathews, M.D., medical director of the Sleep Center at Baylor Medical Center at Irving. “And unfortunately, insomnia can turn into a vicious cycle.” [continue reading…]
The estimated one-third of adults who suffer from insomnia could soon find effective treatment without ever leaving their homes.Researchers at the University of Virginia Health System have developed a unique Internet-based intervention, based on well-established face-to-face cognitive behavioral therapy techniques, that has shown remarkable results in improving patients’ sleep. [continue reading…]
