Sleep

If a good night's sleep helps the brain and body perform better, it's a good guess that sleep problems can cause more than just fatigue. Numerous studies have shown a connection between sleep disorders and medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, and metabolic disorders, including the risk of obesity and diabetes mellitus. Sleep and Your Heart Sleeping Read more...

Now you can let your old Grandpa or Grandma snore - if it doesn't bother anybody else, according to new sleep research at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology's Medical Faculty. Prof. Peretz Lavie reported at the European Sleep Research Society in Glasgow last week that snoring is a health risk in young and middle- aged people, but surprisingly not in the elderly. About five percent Read more...

There is a difference between nodding off due to sleep deprivation and power napping, a U.S. newsletter says. The Harvard Men's Health Watch says people often fall asleep when they least want to -- at their desks or worse, behind the wheel -- when sleep deprived. Sleep deprivation may be caused by not devoting enough time to sleep or by medical conditions such as restless legs syndrome, sleep Read more...

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, Dutch researchers said cognitive deficits were reversed after six weeks of sleep therapy. The study, published in the journal Sleep, found that cognitive processes related to verbal fluency are compromised in people with insomnia despite the absence of a behavioral deficit. However, these specific brain function alterations can be reversed through Read more...

"Sleep on it" really is good advice, according to new research showing how memory is boosted by slumber. A good night's sleep has a dramatic impact on the way the brain functions the next day, scientists have discovered. Sleep appears to strengthen connections between communicating nerve cells in the brain -- a process thought to form the basis of learning and memory. Read more...

A good night's sleep isn't a luxury -- it's a necessity for life, sleep experts say. In fact, studies have shown that sleep is as intrinsic to a person's health, well-being and survival as food, water and oxygen. In one study, sleep researchers with the National Institutes of Health found that rats -- scientists say they need about 12.6 hours of sleep a day, more than what the Read more...