Sleeplessness

Early Risers Are Mutants

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

Does worry keep you awake at night?

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…]

Internet therapy for insomnia

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…]

Image: iStockphoto

Image: iStockphoto

This piece of research has me worried! My husband can snore for England and causes me interupted slumber most nights. New research has found that 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.

[continue reading…]