Sleep Deficits In Texas Adults - CDC data

This article from the CDC discusses insufficient sleep issues specifically to adults in Texas. - JR

Read more on Texas adults here.

Read about sleep statistics for others states here.

Sleep Apnea May Damage Brain Cells Associated With Memory

"How do I motivate my spouse to see a doctor?" I was asked this question yesterday and I could offer some facts. But, a picture really goes a long way. JR

Sleep Apnea May Damage Brain Cells Associated With Memory

June 11, 2008

June 11, 2008 — People with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a common sleep disorder linked to heavy snoring, may lose tissue in brain regions that store short-term memories—the type used to recall a recent joke or recognize a person you met at a party—say researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Daytime confusion and memory loss are known symptoms of sleep apnea; people with the condition often rouse hundreds of times a night (without fully waking) and are tired and forgetful the next day. But a study in the June 27, 2008, edition of the journalNeuroscience Letters suggests that there may be more to it than just that.

Why sleep apnea may affect memory
Memories are formed in the mammillary bodies, structures on the underside of the brain that resemble small breasts. When UCLA neuroscientists scanned the brains of 43 sleep apnea patients and 66 healthy volunteers using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), they discovered that the sleep apnea patients’ mammillary bodies were nearly 20% smaller than those of the untroubled sleepers.

Read more here

More sleep could mean less pain. But what about quality sleep?

A study claims that getting more sleep each night could reduce a person's sensitivity to pain.

In fact, its also the quality and depth of sleep that is also important. I often see patients with fibromylagia or other painful conditions who improve vastly with better sleep.

JR

A new study suggests that extending nightly sleep in mildly sleepy, healthy adults increases daytime alertness and reduces pain sensitivity.

"Our results suggest the importance of adequate sleep in various chronic pain conditions or in preparation for elective surgical procedures," said Timothy Roehrs, PhD, the study's principal investigator and lead author. "We were surprised by the magnitude of the reduction in pain sensitivity, when compared to the reduction produced by taking codeine."

The study, appearing in the December issue of the journalSLEEP, involved 18 healthy, pain-free, sleepy volunteers. They were randomly assigned to four nights of either maintaining their habitual sleep time or extending their sleep time by spending 10 hours in bed per night. Objective daytime sleepiness was measured using the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT), and pain sensitivity was assessed using a radiant heat stimulus.

Results show that the extended sleep group slept 1.8 hours more per night than the habitual sleep group. This nightly increase in sleep time during the four experimental nights was correlated with increased daytime alertness, which was associated with less pain sensitivity.

In the extended sleep group, the length of time before participants removed their finger from a radiant heat source increased by 25 percent, reflecting a reduction in pain sensitivity. The authors report that the magnitude of this increase in finger withdrawal latency is greater than the effect found in a previous study of 60 mg of codeine.

According to the authors, this is the first study to show that extended sleep in mildly, chronically sleep deprived volunteers reduces their pain sensitivity. The results, combined with data from previous research, suggest that increased pain sensitivity in sleepy individuals is the result of their underlying sleepiness.

Read more here

Sleep Study: Resting Brain Allows Dolphins To Stay Awake For Weeks

This is an interesting article discussing how dolphins only sleep with half of their brain at a time which allows the dolphin to stay awake for weeks at a time.

insomnia in adults leaves us AWAKE with only half our brains...LOL...JR

Dolphins can stay constantly alert for more than two weeks by sleeping with only half of their brains, researchers say.

These findings suggest how dolphins can keep on the constant lookout for sharks, investigators added.

Unlike land mammals, dolphins sleep with only part of their brains at any time, past research has suggested. Half of their brains rest, while the other half remains "awake," and dolphins regularly switch which side is active.

"After being awake for many hours or days, humans and other animals are forced to stop all activity and sleep," said researcher Brian Branstetter, a marine biologist at the National Marine Mammal Foundation in San Diego. "Dolphins do not have this restriction, and if they did, they would probably drown or become easy prey."

To see just how mindful dolphins are with just half a brain, researchers tested their ability to scan the environment. Dolphins use echolocation to map the world, a biological form of sonar where they emit clicks and listen for their echoes to probe murky, dark surroundings. [Sleep Tight! Snoozing Animals Gallery]

The researchers set up a portable floating pen outfitted with eight modules, each consisting of an underwater sound projector and microphone. When a dolphin scanned any of these modules using echolocation clicks, they could respond with sounds mimicking echoes of those clicks from remote surfaces. Essentially, these modules could behave as "phantom targets" — illusions that acoustically simulated physical objects.

Dolphins were tested using underwater sound projectors. When they detected certain sounds, the dolphins had to press a paddle. The results are detailed online Oct. 17 in the journal PLoS ONE.

The scientists had two dolphins — a female, Say, and a male, Nay — continuously scan these modules. If they detected phantom targets, they were trained over the course of a year to press a paddle to get fish. The dolphin Say often gave victory squeals whenever she succeeded.

The scientists found these dolphins could successfully use echolocation with near-perfect accuracy and no sign of deteriorating performance for up to 15 days. The researchers did not test how much longer the dolphins could have continued.

"Dolphins can continue to swim and think for days without rest or sleep, possibly indefinitely," Branstetter told LiveScience.

These findings suggest that dolphins evolved to sleep with only half their brains not only to keep from drowning, but also to remain vigilant.

"These majestic beasts are true unwavering sentinels of the sea," Branstetter said.

Future research can help verify whether the dolphins stayed awake and alert for multiple days by sleeping with half their brains. This would require monitoring their brains for electrical activity via electroencephalogram, or a EEG.

"Research with freely moving humans who wear portable EEG equipment has been conducted; training a dolphin to wear a similar portable EEG backpack that is capable of withstanding and functioning in an ocean environment presents much greater challenges," Branstetter said. "However, these hurdles are not insurmountable. Also, we are interested in investigating if dolphins can perform more complex cognitive tasks without rest, like problem-solving or understanding an artificial language."

Read more here

Yoga may help with insomnia

Yoga has been found to have many positive effects for people with sleep issues.

Looking for a low-impact exercise routine with high returns for health and sleep? Try yoga.

The pleasures and benefits of yoga are widely understood: Yoga can improve physical strength and flexibility, improve breathing, reduce stress and enhance mental focus. What may be less well known are the positive effects that yoga can have on sleep.

A new study indicates that yoga can help improve sleep among people suffering from chronic insomnia. Researchers at Harvard Medical School investigated how a daily yoga practice might affect sleep for people with insomnia and found broad improvements to measurements of sleep quality and quantity.

In this study, researchers included people with different types of insomnia, evaluating people with both primary and secondary insomnia. Primary insomnia is sleeplessness that develops on its own, independent of any other health problem or sleep disorder. Secondary insomnia develops as a symptom or consequence of another medical condition. Many illnesses and health problems are associated withinsomnia, including cancer, chronic pain conditions such as arthritis and fibromyalgia, and depression. Medications taken for chronic or acute health conditions can also trigger insomnia, as can the use (and abuse) of substances such as alcohol.

Researchers in this study provided their subjects with basic yoga training, then asked them to maintain a daily yoga practice for eight weeks. The study participants kept sleep diaries for two weeks before the yoga regimen began and for the duration of the eight-week study period. In the sleep diaries, they kept a record of the amount of time spent asleep, number of times they awakened during the night, and the duration of time spent sleeping between periods of waking, in addition to other details about nightly sleep amounts and sleep quality. Twenty people completed the eight-week evaluation, and researchers analyzed the information in their sleep diaries to evaluate the influence of yoga on the disrupted sleep of chronic insomnia. They found improvements to several aspects of sleep, including:

• Sleep efficiency
• Total sleep time
• Total wake time
• Sleep onset latency (the amount of time it takes to fall asleep) 
• Wake time after sleep onset

There isn't a great deal of research into the effects of yoga on sleep and its potential value as a treatment for sleep problems and disorders. But we have seen other scientific evidence in recent years of yoga's effectiveness in improving sleep:

• This study of 410 cancer survivors found that yoga was linked to improved sleep quality, reduced feelings of fatigue, reduced frequency of use of sleep medication, and an improved sense of quality of life among patients who practiced yoga twice a week for 75-minute sessions.

• This research looked at the effects of yoga among post-menopausal women with insomnia and found that yoga was linked to a reduction in symptoms and the severity of the sleep disorder. This study also found yoga linked to lower stress levels and an enhanced sense of quality of life.

• In this study of women with osteo-arthritis and sleep problems, an evening yoga practice was linked to significant improvements in sleep efficiency and a decrease in the frequency of individual nights of insomnia.

Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder among American adults, with 10-15 percent of the population suffering from chronic insomnia. As many as 40 percent of adults in the U.S. experience some type of insomnia every year. Older people, women, and those with other health problems are at higher risk for insomnia. Despite its prevalence, insomnia, like many other sleep disorders, remains significantly under-diagnosed, according to recent research. This study showed that while 1 percent of the population surveyed had a clinical diagnosis of insomnia, 37 percent of those surveyed showed symptoms of insomnia.

Insomnia may be common, but if left untreated its health consequences can be anything but benign. Chronic insomnia is associated with a number of serious medical conditions:

Insomnia is associated with high blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems. This large-scale studyfound that people with insomnia had significantly elevated risk of heart attack. Insomnia is alsoassociated with inflammation in the body, which is itself a risk factor for heart problems and other serious illnesses.

Research indicates that lack of sleep can have negative effects on cognition, and the brain. This study linked insomnia with destruction of gray matter in the brain. This group of four studies, conducted independently of one another, found evidence that poor and fragmented sleep may contribute to impaired cognition as we age.

Insomnia has been found linked to both anxiety and depression. The relationship between sleeplessness and these mental health disorders is still being understood, including whether one condition precipitates the other. But insomnia, depression and anxiety share a deep and difficult connection.

Lack of sleep, and disrupted sleep, is also associated with obesity. We've seen extensive research that shows under-sleeping is linked to weight gain and the diseases associated with obesity.

With so much at stake, finding effective treatment for insomnia is an important endeavor. Sometimes medication can be an appropriate choice, but any treatment is best to begin with basic lifestyle changes. Yoga and other regular forms of exercise can help to form the basis of a long-term, sustainable lifestyle that helps you sleep more, and better.

Read more here

Perry struggled with sleep disorder during Presidential campaign

New information shows that Rick Perry was diagnosed with sleep apnea during his Presidential campaign.

New behind-the-scenes details are emerging about Rick Perry's presidential campaign, one that started strong but shriveled after a series of surprising gaffes and misstatements.

A spokesperson with Perry's office confirmed an account in a new book that the Texas governor discovered he had "mild sleep apnea" during his White House bid.

Perry, who entered the race late in August 2011, drew criticism for not taking his presidential run seriously because of his mistakes on the campaign trail. The most memorable moment, perhaps, came in a Michigan debate in November, when Perry failed to remember the third federal agency he had proposed eliminating. He named two, but could not come up with the third, even after appearing to consult notes.

"I would do away with the Education, the, uh, Commerce, and, let's see. I can't," Perry said, after struggling to come up with the name for 53 seconds. "The third one I can't. Sorry. Oops."

Some attributed the mental lapse, as well as a candid and comedic New Hampshire speech days earlier, to painkillers after Perry underwent back surgery in the summer of 2011. Perry's team maintained the governor discontinued use of the medicine prior to the start of his campaign.

A Perry spokesperson said the governor, however, found out he had a sleep condition.

"The Governor's July 2011 back surgery and his late entry into the presidential race presented obstacles during his campaign. Gov. Perry was diagnosed with mild sleep apnea during the campaign and was treated with a breathing machine for a few weeks," the spokeswoman said in a statement Sunday.

"Once the governor's back recovered sufficiently to return to his regular exercise routine, the apnea issue was resolved and no further treatment was necessary."

Perry's sleep problems were first reported in a new book, "Oops," by Texas Tribune reporter Jay Root.

"After conducting overnight tests on Perry, they produced a rather startling diagnosis: He had sleep apnea, and it had gone undetected for years, probably decades," Root writes, according to an excerpt of the book posted on the Texas Tribune website.

The ailment, Root continues, affects one in 10 men worldwide and "causes loud snoring and temporary lapses in breathing that disrupt normal sleep." Doctors prescribed a breathing machine to help alleviate symptoms, and Perry, an exercise junkie, soon got back to normal once he was able to work out again.

"The way he told it later, all that rigorous physical activity over the year had kept his sleep apnea in check," Root writes. "Then back surgery he underwent in July 2011 sidelined him, kept him out of the gym, and he went from light sleeper to insomniac."

Read more here

Study: Smokers may have more sleep problems

A new study claims why smokers might sleep less and thus have more sleep problems.

Smokers may get fewer hours of sleep and have less restful slumber than non-smokers, according to a German study that looked at more than two thousand people.

Researchers whose work appeared in the journal Addiction Biology found that of nearly 1,100 smokers surveyed, 17 percent got fewer than six hours of sleep each night and 28 percent reported "disturbed" sleep quality.

That compared with rates of seven percent and 19 percent respectively among more than 1,200 non-smokers who were also surveyed, said lead researcher Stefan Cohrs, of Charite Berlin medical school in Germany.

"This study demonstrates for the first time an elevated prevalence of sleep disturbance in smokers compared with non-smokers in a population without lifetime history of psychiatric disorders even after controlling for potentially relevant risk factors," Cohrs and his colleagues wrote.

The findings cannot prove that smoking directly impairs sleep, since smokers may have other habits that could affect their shut-eye such as staying up late to watch TV or getting little exercise, Cohrs told Reuters Health in an email.

But there is also reason to believe the stimulating effects of nicotine may be to blame.

"If you smoke and you do suffer from sleep problems, it is another good reason to quit smoking," Cohrs said.

Poor sleep quality may not only make your waking hours tougher. Some studies have also linked habitually poor sleep to health problems like obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

The study included 1,071 smokers and 1,243 non-smokers who were free of mental health disorders, since those conditions may make a person both more likely to smoke and more vulnerable to sleep problems.

The researchers used a questionnaire that gauges sleep quality. Overall, more than one-quarter of smokers had a score than landed them in the category of "disturbed" sleep, meaning they had a high probability of insomnia.

Many things can affect sleep quality, and Cohrs's team was able to account for factors such as age, weight, and alcohol abuse. Yet smoking was still linked to poorer sleep quality.

It's still possible there are other things about smokers that impair their sleep, but Cohrs said he thinks the most likely culprit is nicotine - and the prospect of better sleep could provide smokers with an additional reason to quit.

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Anxiety in Children May Be Linked to Sleep Issues

This article shows a link between childhood anxiety and sleeping problems in children.

Does your child toss and turn at night? Does your child regularly wake up tired and unrefreshed? According to research, a small percentage of children who have sleep problems may be at risk of more serious emotional disorders, including anxiety and depression.

The study, authored by Flavia Giannotti, M.D., of Center of Pediatric Sleep Disorders at the University of Rome La Sapienza in Italy, was conducted on 122 children between 7 and 11 years of age, who had a major depressive disorder. All patients underwent a systematic psychiatric, cognitive and sleep evaluation and all children were medication-free. Depressed children, as well as those presenting both depression and an anxious disorder, entered the study, and their results were compared to those of 200 healthy peers.

According to the results, 82 percent of the depressed children reported problems sleeping, compared to five percent in the control group. In the group of children who suffered from both depression and anxiety, 42 percent showed a significantly higher frequency of sleep-onset insomnia, compared to 29 percent in the depression-only group. They also scored significantly higher on the “bedtime difficulties,” “sleep anxiety,” and “sleep duration” portions of the questionnaire.

Gianotti states, “Sleep problems are very common in typically developing children. Even though they are more frequent in toddlers and preschoolers, they affect also school-aged children. What was most interesting about this study was the finding that certain types of comorbid [e.g. anxiety and depression] conditions might be especially disruptive on sleep. Therefore, in childhood, considerable attention needs to be paid to the interrelation between sleep patterns and emotional disorders.”

Experts recommend that school-aged children get between 10-11 hours of sleep every night. If your child fails to get a sufficient amount of sleep of if your child is consistently tired or drowsy in the morning, he or she may have developmental or behavioral problems, like anxiety or depression.

“To ensure the most effective care, parents of sleep-disturbed children are advised to first consult with the child’s pediatrician, who may issue a referral to a sleep specialist for comprehensive testing and treatment,” Dr. Giannotti advised.

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How Socioeconomics Impacts Proper Sleep Apnea Diagnosis And Treatment

This article discusses why people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are disproportionately effected by sleep apnea.

A wide range of serious health problems disproportionately afflict individuals from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. These conditions, which reduce quality of life and shorten lifespan, include heart disease, stroke, diabetes, asthma, and cancer. Other health problems commonly associated with poverty are obesity, pregnancy complications, increased infant mortality, HIV/AIDS and dental disease. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's "Healthy People 2020," which sets 10-year national objectives for improving the health of the nation, has prioritized the need to close the gap in these "health disparities." There are numerous potential targets for improving the health of low-income people, such as improving nutrition and access to health care. In addition, accumulating research points to a need to improve sleep as means for improving alertness and daily functioning, as well as for reducing the risk of developing chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.

Sleep disorders and sleep deficiency (akin to a vitamin deficiency, reflecting a lack of an essential ingredient for healthy functioning) afflict a high proportion of both children and adults. Notably, individuals from disadvantaged neighborhoods and racial/ethnic minorities are at increased risk for poor sleep and for sleep disorders due to a variety of environmental exposures, occupational and psychosocial conditions, and possibly genetic factors. As will be discussed next week by Drs. Buxton and Okechukwu, persons of color and from poor neighborhoods are significantly more likely to be sleep-deprived and to have poor sleep quality, which often leads to elevations in blood pressure, abnormalities in blood sugar, weight gain and obesity, and other health problems.

The sleep disorder sleep apnea is also especially common in minority groups and individuals from disadvantaged neighborhoods. This disorder occurs when the throat closes during sleep, resulting in snoring (vibration of the tissues of the throat as the air passages narrow and increase) and periods when breathing briefly but repeatedly stops ("apnea"=no breathing). These interruptions in breathing, which may occur hundreds of times during the night in individuals with sleep apnea, can lead to marked decreases in the body's oxygen levels, frequent awakenings, release of stress hormones, and marked spikes in blood pressure. These stresses, however, are not confined to the night, but also often lead to persistent physiological abnormalities that affect the cardiovascular and endocrine systems. In fact, sleep apnea results in a marked increase in risk for developing high blood pressure, heart failure, stroke, diabetes, abnormal heart rhythms (atrial fibrillation), and early death. Sleep apnea is also is associated withpregnancy complications. In children, sleep apnea is associated with elevations in blood pressure, a predisposition to diabetes, and behavioral problems such as attention-deficient hyperactivity disorder.

Why are minority and low-income people at increased risk for sleep apnea? The answer is not completely clear, but it appears that some of the risk is associated with elevated exposure to poor air quality due to environmental tobacco smoke and air pollution-factors that may cause chronic inflammation of the tissues near the throat. The increased risk is partly associated with higher frequencies of overweight, which itself may be a result of sleep deprivation, a cause of overeating. Sleep apnea tends to run in families, and it appears that genetic factors may also contribute to disease risk.

Despite the relatively high prevalence of sleep apnea in low-income populations, it is often under-recognized and inadequately treated in these groups. Recognition may be hampered when individuals do not receive regular medical care, when health care providers only focus on their patient's known medical problems and do not ask about sleep problems, when patients themselves do not recognize the potential dangers of their poor sleep and snoring and do not discuss these issues with their doctors.

Treatment of sleep apnea also is often inadequate in individuals with more limited resources. The "gold standard" treatment of sleep apnea involves using a device on a nightly basis that keeps the throat from collapsing (a CPAP machine). This treatment is highly effective, but often requires initial support from an experienced team of sleep specialists to make sure the device is properly fit for the patient, who may need to be supported while adjusting to this new treatment. This requires a solid partnership between the patient and medical team, which sadly, is less common for many low-income patients. Research indeed shows that use of prescribed CPAP is often suboptimal in minority and low-income patients. Thus, it is likely that large numbers of patients with sleep apnea are left undiagnosed and/or untreated for a treatable condition that can have profound health effects.

Colleen Lance

Recognizing the importance of this emerging public health issue, this past June, Harvard University and its partner institutions sponsored a symposium "Sleep Health Disparities: Opportunities to Improve the Health of the Community" to bring together experts in health disparities research, sleep medicine, population health, community outreach, and environmental science to foster new dialogue, consider emerging questions, and identify important next steps to move forward the field of sleep health disparities. Presenters and participants explored the mediating role of sleep disorders in health disparities, potential mechanisms linking sleep disorders to chronic health conditions, and barriers to clinical recognition and treatment of sleep deficiency and sleep disorders in disadvantaged populations. Participants endorsed a need to better identify the determinants of poor sleep in low-income populations, including focusing on risk factors operating in households and the work place and behaviors that influence parents and their children. The consensus: a clear need to improve recognition of sleep apnea by primary care providers and to understand how to best support treatment in minority and low-income populations.

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Sleepless Nights May Put The Aging Brain At Risk Of Dementia

 Memo to doctor self: good advice to help initiating sleep. JR

Copyright ©2012 National Public Radio. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

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Heard on Morning Edition

August 27, 2012 - DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Sleepwalking is not the only form of disrupted sleep. As we age, our sleep patterns change and many people have problems falling and staying asleep. Now researchers have found a link between disrupted sleep and dementia, as NPR's Patti Neighmond reports.

PATTI NEIGHMOND, BYLINE: Psychiatrist Kristine Yaffe runs a clinic for people at risk of developing dementia. She's at the University of California, San Francisco. She says many of her older patients say they just don't sleep well.

DR. KRISTINE YAFFE: Either have difficulty falling asleep, waking up on and off throughout the night, feeling tired in the day or, you know, having to nap a lot in the day. Those kind of things are very common....NEIGHMOND: First step, control outside stimulation.

ANCOLI-ISRAEL: And what this therapy says is you're not allowed to do anything in bed but sleep. Sleep and sex, but nothing else. You can't pay your bills in bed, you don't take your computer or your iPhone or your iPad to bed with you, you don't watch television in bed, you don't read in bed.

NEIGHMOND: And if you don't fall asleep in about 20 minutes, get out of bed. Watch or read something relaxing, and after 20 minutes, try again. And the clock, get rid of it.

ANCOLI-ISRAEL: You know, the first thing you do when you wake up at night is you look at the clock. In order to look at the clock, you have to open your eyes, maybe lift your head, but what's worse is you have to take yourself from transitional sleep to full awakening to comprehend that it's 1:10 in the morning and you want to be asleep.

NEIGHMOND: If you need the alarm, cover the clock or put it under the bed. You'll still hear it go off.

Now, there's another sleep difficulty faced by older adults. Natural body rhythms change.

ANCOLI-ISRAEL: Sleep is controlled in part by our core body temperature. Body drops at night - that's when we get sleepy, it rises in the morning hours, and that's when we wake up.

NEIGHMOND: And that changes at different times of our lives. Teenagers' body temperature drops late in the evening, so they don't get tired till around midnight and don't naturally wake up till late morning.

ANCOLI-ISRAEL: For older adults, it's the opposite. Their body temperature drops really early in the evening, around 8 o'clock and rises really early in the morning, about four. So, if your lifestyle allows it, go to bed early and when you wake up, get up.

NEIGHMOND: For those who don't want to do that, Ancoli-Israel suggests get lots of light.

ANCOLI-ISRAEL: Light is the strongest cue that our body has to know when to go to sleep and when to get up. And lots of light exposure during the day helps us have a strong biological clock.

NEIGHMOND: And the best source of light? The sun. A late afternoon or early evening walk, when the sun is still out, is the best. That delays the circadian rhythm and helps people stay alert later on in the evening and sleep longer in the morning.

More here

Yoga can help some sleep issues

Research looks into how yoga can help those who suffer from chronic insomnia and other sleep problems.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Sleep Foundation, millions of Americans suffer from sleep problems. Sleep deprivation is reported to affect two-thirds of American adults and is considered an important public health concern. Sleep experts recommend adults get 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night for good health and optimum performance, yet the majority of adults get considerably less.

No doubt the epidemic proportions of this problem stem from our nonstop society, where millions of people trade off quality sleep time for more work time. Stress, anxiety, and depression are also important causes of sleep problems, such as insomnia, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, and narcolepsy.

Chronic sleep deprivation can increase the risk of serious health problems, including heart disease, strokeand breast cancer.

Research reports that yoga practice can help to alleviate sleep problems. For a natural, drug-free way to promote restful sleep, try yoga for sweet dreams.

Yoga Can Help Relieve Chronic Insomnia

A study published in Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback found yoga helped relieve chronic insomnia.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School in Boston taught 20 study participants yoga breathing, meditation and mantra (sacred sound recitation) in one training session.

The participants practiced the yoga treatment before bedtime on their own and with brief in-person and telephone follow ups for eight weeks. The subjects maintained a sleep-wake diary for two weeks prior to treatment and for eight weeks during the treatment period.

The participants' sleep efficiency, total sleep time, total wake time, sleep onset latency, wake time after sleep onset, number of awakenings, and sleep quality measures were assessed from their sleep-wake diary entries.

Researchers found that the participants had significantly improved sleep efficiency, total sleep time, total wake time, sleep onset latency, and wake time after sleep onset at the end of treatment compared with before the treatment.

"Yoga is an effective treatment because it addresses insomnia's physical and psychological aspects," says study author Sat Bir Khalsa, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and associate neuroscientist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, in a statement.

Yoga Helps Ease Sleep Problems

A 2012 randomized study, published in the journal Menopause, found yoga helps ease sleep problems and menopausal symptoms in postmenopausal women. All the participants were not on hormone therapy and were diagnosed with insomnia.

Brazilian researchers assigned 44 menopausal women with insomnia to yoga, physical therapy stretches, or no treatment for four months. Questionnaires evaluating insomnia, menopause symptoms, anxiety and depression symptoms, stress, and quality of life were obtained from the participants.

The yoga and physical therapy groups participated in sessions two times per week. The yoga program included yoga stretches and Tibetan yoga breathing.

The researchers found that the yoga participants had significantly reduced insomnia severity and menopause symptoms and improved quality of life and stress resistance compared to the control group. In addition, the yoga group had significantly fewer sleep problems than the physical therapy group.

"This study showed that a specific sequence of yoga might be effective in reducing insomnia and menopausal symptoms as well as improving quality of life in postmenopausal women with insomnia," the study authors conclude.

Read more here

National Institutes of Health's Tips on Getting a Good Nights Sleep

Below are tips from the National Institute of Health on how to get a good night's sleep. The website also contains a great sleep diary that is found here.

• Stick to a sleep schedule. Go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. As creatures of habit, people have a hard time adjusting to changes in sleep patterns. Sleeping later on weekends won't fully make up for a lack of sleep during the week and will make it harder to wake up early on Monday morning.
• Exercise is great, but not too late in the day. Try to exercise at least 30 minutes on most days but not later than 2—3 hours before your bedtime.
• Avoid caffeine and nicotine. Coffee, colas, certain teas, and chocolate contain the stimulant caffeine, and its effects can take as long as 8 hours to wear off fully. Therefore, a cup of coffee in the late afternoon can make it hard for you to fall asleep at night. Nicotine is also a stimulant, often causing smokers to sleep only very lightly. In addition, smokers often wake up too early in the morning because of nicotine withdrawal.
• Avoid alcoholic drinks before bed. Having a "nightcap" or alcoholic beverage before sleep may help you relax, but heavy use robs you of deep sleep and REM sleep, keeping you in the lighter stages of sleep. Heavy alcohol ingestion also may contribute to impairment in breathing at night. You also tend to wake up in the middle of the night when the effects of the alcohol have worn off.
• Avoid large meals and beverages late at night. A light snack is okay, but a large meal can cause indigestion that interferes with sleep. Drinking too many fluids at night can cause frequent awakenings to urinate.
• If possible, avoid medicines that delay or disrupt your sleep. Some commonly prescribed heart, blood pressure, or asthma medications, as well as some over-the-counter and herbal remedies for coughs, colds, or allergies, can disrupt sleep patterns. If you have trouble sleeping, talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist to see whether any drugs you're taking might be contributing to your insomnia and ask whether they can be taken at other times during the day or early in the evening.
• Don't take naps after 3 p.m. Naps can help make up for lost sleep, but late afternoon naps can make it harder to fall asleep at night.
• Relax before bed. Don't overschedule your day so that no time is left for unwinding. A relaxing activity, such as reading or listening to music, should be part of your bedtime ritual.
• Take a hot bath before bed. The drop in body temperature after getting out of the bath may help you feel sleepy, and the bath can help you relax and slow down so you're more ready to sleep.
• Have a good sleeping environment. Get rid of anything in your bedroom that might distract you from sleep, such as noises, bright lights, an uncomfortable bed, or warm temperatures. You sleep better if the temperature in the room is kept on the cool side. A TV, cell phone, or computer in the bedroom can be a distraction and deprive you of needed sleep. Having a comfortable mattress and pillow can help promote a good night's sleep. Individuals who have insomnia often watch the clock. Turn the clock's face out of view so you don't worry about the time while trying to fall asleep.
• Have the right sunlight exposure. Daylight is key to regulating daily sleep patterns. Try to get outside in natural sunlight for at least 30 minutes each day. If possible, wake up with the sun or use very bright lights in the morning. Sleep experts recommend that, if you have problems falling asleep, you should get an hour of exposure to morning sunlight and turn down the lights before bedtime.
• Don't lie in bed awake. If you find yourself still awake after staying in bed for more than 20 minutes or if you are starting to feel anxious or worried, get up and do some relaxing activity until you feel sleepy. The anxiety of not being able to sleep can make it harder to fall asleep.
• See a health professional if you continue to have trouble sleeping. If you consistently find it difficult to fall or stay asleep and/or feel tired or not well rested during the day despite spending enough time in bed at night, you may have a sleep disorder. Your family healthcare provider or a sleep specialist should be able to help you, and it is important to rule out other health or emotional problems that may be disturbing your sleep.

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Five Ways to Prevent a Concussion in Your Teenage Athlete - Pediatric Neurologists Share Tips to Help Reduce Concussions in Children and Teenagers

Five Ways to Prevent a Concussion in Your Teenage Athlete

 - Pediatric Neurologists Share Tips to Help Reduce Brain Injuries in Children & Teenagers

Houston, TX August 07, 2012

Your son leaves for his football game. Your daughter is off for soccer practice. Two hours later, the team trainer calls home to report that your teenager is in the ER, having suffered a concussion.

What can a parent do today to prevent a concussion in a child or teenager? Here is advice from four child neurologists, experts in the management of traumatic brain injury.

Dr. Joshua Rotenberg, a pediatric neurologist in Houston and San Antonio (http://www.txmss.com), advises parents, “Before letting your child or teen take the field, review your own game-plan for concussion prevention.”

Here are 5 Pre-Season Action Items for parents of athletes:

#5 Increase Subject Matter Knowledge - The presentation of concussion can be subtle and a child may not recognize it in themselves. With knowledge, one can prevent concussion or at least prevent complications.

Dr. Kevin Joseph of Valley Medical Center/University of Washington Medicine advises families and athletes to learn about the symptoms of concussion.

Concussion symptoms can take the form of almost any disturbance of brain function. These can include any combination of physical (headache, dizziness, ringing in ears, nausea/vomiting, blurry vision, weakness), emotional (depression, anxiety), cognitive (memory problems, focus problems) and sleep disturbances (insomnia, excessive sleepiness).

Concussion can be caused by a direct head trauma or indirectly by a sudden impulse of energy. That is, a concussion is not necessarily caused by a recognizable head-to-head impact.

Concussion does not only happen to male football players! Current estimates are that up to 20% of high school football players will sustain a concussion in a season. But, women’s soccer is the second most likely school sport to cause a concussion.

Other activities more likely to cause traumatic brain injury in teens are bicycling, basketball, volleyball and cheer. Even non-athletes are susceptible to falls and accidents.

Among athletes, who is at high risk? Concussion risk factors include prior concussion and neuropsychological problems such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

One study indicated that 26% of children with ADHD had sustained a head injury. Ensure that ADHD treatment is adequate to prevent impulsive or distracted performance.

Children who have sustained a previous concussion are up to 6 times more likely to have a subsequent concussion. For children and teens who have suffered multiple concussions, ensure that they have seen a specialist and they are cleared for full contact activity.

#4 Check Protective Equipment - Ensure that athletes have a current and highly rated helmet that also has an appropriate fit.

Dr. Marc Difazio, a child neurologist at Children’s National Medical Center, Washington DC, notes, “Safe helmet systems go far to prevent concussion. Football, lacrosse and hockey players can obtain effective helmets that greatly decrease the force of the impact of a blow.”

There are helmet systems for soccer players that do not interfere with the ability to head the ball (not a major cause of concussion by the way!). These systems can certainly be used in other contact sports (such as field hockey), which do not require a helmet.

Mouth guards are important for preventing oral trauma, but have not been shown to reduce concussion.

Consult a certified athletic trainer to ensure your equipment has an optimal fit.

#3 Ensure Adequate Training - Young athletes require general athletic training and sport specific technique

Dr. Marc Difazio observes, “Unrestricted head movement is one component of concussion physics. Strength training for head, neck and shoulders of young athletes helps to deliver more precise control of their bodies, possibly lessening the movements associated with impact, and potentially decreasing concussion risk.”

Proper training in football and rugby tackling is crucial. Tackling technique in football must be taught from the start, and dangerous head-on methods discouraged immediately.

Heading the ball appropriately in soccer has not been shown to cause concussion if done correctly. However, Dr. Difazio has observed that “novice players may not perform the technique appropriately, leading to excessive head movement and a resultant risk of concussion. Teaching correct heading techniques is therefore as important as kicking, dribbling and game strategy."

#2 Heighten Parental Vigilance - You are entrusting your child’s brain to coaches and trainers. Most are excellent stewards of this trust. But, even with the best trainer and coach, you are the expert on your child.

Be present and vigilant about your child’s participation. Ask about style and contact of practices and games. Valid questions include: Are freshmen scrimmaging with seniors? Who cares for the equipment? How do they fit?

Dr. Joseph advises, “Know who is responsible for responding to head injuries at the game....Know what the school or organization policy is regarding head injuries (what happens on game day and when can the child return to play).”

Youth sports can be less regulated than interscholastic school sports. Do youth football players have more aggressive collision in practice than in games? Perhaps! One recent study indicated that concussive head injury in youth football may be more common in practice than in the game. If you note atypical practice or game activities, discuss these with the coach and trainers.

Most importantly, you know your child best. You may detect cognitive, behavior or performance abnormalities before anyone else does. Keep a low threshold to suspect concussion. Parental observation and symptom identification are key to diagnosis.

In many states, there are concussion laws describing how school athletes must be removed from play or practice if concussion is suspected. Note that this is a low threshold.

If you suspect a head injury, for whatever reason, have your child evaluated and let the physicians sort it out. Missing one game or practice is better than missing weeks of participation.

# 1 Form an action plan in case of concussion!

Reassuringly, concussions most often resolve quickly and completely within a couple of weeks. The majority of children and teens suffer no long term implications.

At the same time, keep in mind what you would do following a severe injury or a deteriorating situation. An emergency evaluation may be necessary in severe or deteriorating head injury cases. Following a head injury, if the little voice inside you is telling you to go to the emergency room, listen to that voice.

Children with concussion should see a physician. Make sure to visit your primary care physician. The doctor who knows your child might also be able to detect differences that a parent missed.

To meet the need for rapid access to pediatric brain specialists, these neurologists offer expedited evaluations.

Dr. Rotenberg advises seeking the highest possible level of expertise in the identification and management of brain injury for children “The symptoms and signs of concussion are physical, neurologic and neuropsychological. It is important to seek a child and adolescent neurologist’s advice since a specialist can identify serious head injury, diagnose concussion and treat its complications”.

Remember, a computerized test alone can not establish a diagnosis of concussion. “You can purchase an online test or go to a retail store. But is it valid or useful?” asks Rotenberg. Variables such as the setting, motivation and the specifics of the test must be considered with the whole person

Finally, Dr. Rotenberg advises all parents, “Ensure that all children have an adequate pre-season physical examination by a physician who knows your child.”

Drs. Rotenberg, Joseph and DiFazio serve on a pediatric working group for sports neurology. Texas Medical & Sleep Specialists serves the Houston and San Antonio areas with pediatric neurology and specialty care. Contact Dr. Rotenberg at 713-464-4107 or read more at his blog http://www.pedzzz.blogspot.com.

http://www.chron.com/business/press-releases//business/press-releases/article/Five-Ways-to-Prevent-a-Concussion-in-Your-Teenage-3769750.php