PD Patients Report Better Sleep With Rotigotine Tx

Patch form of dopamine agonist also lowered nighttime activity

SAN DIEGO -- The rotigotine patch (Neupro) appeared to objectively improve sleep quality in patients with Parkinson's disease with self-reported sleep complaints, Italian researchers said here.

Based on actigraph recordings, overall sleep efficiency was 67.8% in the week before treatment and 73.4% after 4 weeks of treatment with rotigotine patches for a statistically significant difference (P=0.017), according to Federica Provini, MD, of the University of Bologna, and colleagues.

In a poster presentation at Movement Disorders Society annual meeting, Provini's group noted that rotigotine is a dopamine agonist used for the treatment of motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. Previous reports have suggested rotigotine use led to improvements in subjective sleep in PD patients with sleep complaints.

What was different in this pilot study was that the researchers used the actigraph, which records what really happens during sleep, to confirm the effectiveness of the patches.

"This is the first objective demonstration of rotigotine during sleep," said co-author Pietro Cortelli, MD, also at the University of Bologna. "Our study relied on the actigraph, not on questionnaires. The patients wore the actigraph 1 week before we treated, then we had the recording done after 4 weeks of treatment with rotigotine patches."

Cortelli told MedPage Today that the authors sought to show that the patches had an impact on the patient's sleep only. "We were not trying to determine if the patches improved motor function efficacy. We did not have a placebo group. We were just measuring their sleep efficiency," he said.

The patients were assessed using the Parkinson's Disease Sleep Scale, the Epworth Sleepiness Scale and the restless leg syndrome rating scale before the treatment. Their sleep was recorded with the actigraph to provide baseline data. The actigraph used was the Mini Motionlogger Actigraph Advanced by Ambulatory Monitoring.

Twelve of the 15 patients in the study were men and the mean age of all the participants was 67. They had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease for a mean of 5 years. To be eligible for the study, the patients had to have registered sleep complaints and scored 10 or greater on the Parkinson's Disease Sleep Scale-2; a 3 or greater on the Hoehn and Yahr Score; and, prior to the study, could not have undergone treatment with rotigotine to control motor symptoms.

After 1 week without treatment, patients were treated with a 24-hour patch which was titrated over 1-4 weeks to the optimal dose to subjectively control motor symptom control. The starting patch contained 2 mg of rotigotine and the highest dose patch was 8 mg of rotigotine which was absorbed through the skin in 24 hours.

In addition to sleep efficiency, Provini told MedPage Today that there was a significant reduction in wake after sleep onset time (P=0.013). The wake after sleep onset time was 147.5 minutes in the week before using the patch and 106.5 minutes after the 1-month treatment trial, the researchers said. A longer wake after sleep onset is considered less efficient sleep quality.

The researcher also reported a reduction in the mean duration of wake episodes (P=0.005); improvement in the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale-III (P=0.018), and in the Parkinson's Disease Sleep Scale (P=0.005).

When looking at the patients who had pathological sleep efficiency pre-treatment, the authors reported a significant reduction in the nighttime activity mean (P=0.005) and activity median (P=0.04) post-treatment.

"This pilot study suggests that rotigotine subjectively improves sleep quality and [quality of life] in PD patients with self-eported sleep complaints and induces a significant reduction in nighttime activity, which could contribute to compromised sleep," the authors wrote, adding that in patients with reduced sleep efficiency, rotigotine objectively improved all sleep parameters.

Cortelli and Provini disclosed no relevant relationships with industry.

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Exploding head syndrome could affect 1 in 5 young people

Exploding head syndrome might not be a condition that people are familiar with, but according to new research published in the Journal of Sleep Research, a surprisingly high percentage of young people could experience the psychological phenomenon.

Exploding head syndrome involves hearing abrupt loud noises without any external cause, typically occurring when waking up or going to sleep.

The syndrome is characterized by the perception of abrupt loud noises when waking up or going to sleep. Although typically painless, these noises can cause fear and distress to the person experiencing them, who may be unable to rationalize what has caused their symptoms.

Little is understood about exploding head syndrome though many experts have previously suggested that the rare condition primarily affects older adults.

"I didn't believe the clinical lore that it would only occur in people in their 50s," says study author Brian Sharpless, PhD, of Washington State University. "That didn't make a lot of biological sense to me."

After conducting a review of the scientific literature on exploding head syndrome in the journal Sleep Medicine Reviews, Dr. Sharpless decided that more research was required to fully understand the rare condition.

Experts believe that exploding head syndrome occurs due to the brain having problems when shutting down to go to sleep. Usually, when people go to sleep, different parts of the brain - motor, auditory and visuals neurons - turn off in different stages.

Dr. Sharpless suggests that in exploding head syndrome, the auditory neurons may activate all at once instead of shutting down properly. "That's why you get these crazy-loud noises that you can't explain, and they're not actual noises in your environment," he says.

This phenomenon occurs in the brainstem's reticular formation, the same part of the brain that is involved in isolated sleep paralysis - a condition in which individuals are unable to move or speak upon waking up.

Experiencing the condition was frequently associated with fear

In the study - the largest of its kind - 211 undergraduate students were assessed for both exploding head syndrome and isolated sleep paralysis through interviews conducted by psychologists or graduate students.

Nearly 1 in 5 (18%) of the participants reported experiencing exploding head syndrome at least once. More than a third (37%) of these participants also reported experiencing isolated sleep paralysis.

Participants that had experienced exploding head syndrome frequently reported clinically significant levels of fear, with a small minority (3%) reporting clinically significant distress and impairment in association with these episodes.

Dr. Sharpless states that exploding head syndrome can often lead individuals to interpret their experiences as more severe health problems, such as seizures or bleeding in the brain, or even attribute them to unnatural events.

"Some people have worked these scary experiences into conspiracy theories and mistakenly believe the episodes are caused by some sort of directed-energy weapon," he says. "For this scary noise you hear at night when there's nothing going on in your environment, well, it might be the government messing with you."

Dr. Sharpless also reports that very few clinicians or researchers assess for the little-understood condition. Unfortunately, there are currently no well-articulated or empirically supported treatments for exploding head syndrome, although a couple of drugs are showing promise in early testing.

"One of the drugs they gave for exploding head syndrome actually didn't make the noises go away," Dr. Sharpless explains. "It just turned the volume down."

Despite a lack of treatment options for the condition, increasing awareness could work to improve people's lives. Dr. Sharpless says that just being able to recognize exploding head syndrome could reduce fear and make patients with this condition feel better in themselves.

Although the study involved a relatively small number of participants, it still suggests that the condition may be more prevalent than first thought.

"Contrary to some earlier theorizing, exploding head syndrome was found to be a relatively common experience in younger individuals," the author concludes. "Given the potential clinical impacts, it is recommended that it be assessed more regularly in research and clinical settings."

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A short daytime nap could improve memory by fivefold, study finds

We have all been there; whether in class at school or a meeting at work, sometimes it feels as if our brain just gives up and leaves the building. But according to a new study by researchers from Saarland University in Germany, a short daytime nap could significantly boost brain power.

A daytime nap of around 45-60 minutes could improve learning and memory by fivefold, researchers suggest.

Publishing their findings in the journal Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, the team reveals that a sleep of around 45-60 minutes could improve learning and memory by fivefold.

This is not the first study to associate daytime napping with improved memory performance. In January, Medical News Today reported on a study by researchers from the University of Sheffield in the UK, who found that a 30-minute nap within 4 hours of a learning task significantly improved infants' memory.

But this latest study reveals that power naps may also benefit memory for adults, with the team revealing how a short sleep may affect the brain to produce this outcome.

To reach their findings, study leader Alex Mecklinger, of the Experimental Neuropsychology Unit at Saarland, and his team enrolled 41 participants to take part in a learning task.

Participants were shown a list of 90 single words and 120 unrelated word pairs and were asked to learn them. The researchers explain that unrelated word pairs were used in order to eliminate the possibility that participants may have remembered the words as a result of familiarity.

"A word pair might, for example, be 'milk-taxi.' Familiarity is of no use here when participants try to remember this word pair," explains Mecklinger, "because they have never heard this particular word combination before and it is essentially without meaning. They therefore need to access the specific memory of the corresponding episode in the hippocampus."

After the learning task, participants were immediately required to complete a memory recall test. Half of the participants were then asked to take a nap of up to 90 minutes, while the remaining subjects were asked to watch a DVD.

The brain activity of the napping participants was measured via electroencephalogram (EEG) while they slept, with the team specifically focusing on "sleep spindles" - a burst of activity in the hippocampus region that plays a key role in memory consolidation.

"We suspect that certain types of memory content, particularly information that was previously tagged, is preferentially consolidated during this type of brain activity," says Mecklinger.

Next, all participants were asked to retake the memory recall test, requiring them to once again remember the words and word pairs shown to them prior to napping or watching a DVD.

Better learning, memory linked to greater number of sleep spindles during nap

The researchers found that, compared with participants who watched the DVD, those who napped for around 45-60 minutes following the learning task performed approximately five times better when it came to remembering the word pairs.

In fact, the researchers note that word pair recall of the napping participants was just as good as it was on the memory tests completed immediately after learning.

Short naps were not associated with improvement in item memory - the ability to remember phone numbers, for example, or a friend's name - the team says.

According to the researchers, these findings suggest that a short nap can significantly boost associative memory - the ability to remember a link between items that are unrelated, such as the name of a person we have just met.

What is more, the team found that better learning and memory recall was associated with a greater number of sleep spindles in the EEG, supporting their theory that sleep spindles play a role in specific forms of memory; in this case - associative memory.

Commenting on their findings, Mecklinger says:

"A short nap at the office or in school is enough to significantly improve learning success. Wherever people are in a learning environment, we should think seriously about the positive effects of sleep."

Earlier this month, MNT reported on a study published in Nature Neuroscience, in which researchers found our head-direction cells - the "internal compass" that tells us which direction we should face - continue to be active during sleep.

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An extra hour of sleep 'boosts women's likelihood of sex'

For women, each additional hour of sleep increases the likelihood of sex by 14%. This is according to a new study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine.

"Sleep disturbance may contribute to sexual complaints and reduced sexual activity," the study concludes.

Although previous studies have looked closely at medical illness, psychological disorders and relationship dissatisfaction as factors that can lead to sex problems for women - such as a lack of sexual fantasies or diminished arousal - sleep problems have been largely overlooked as risk factors for sexual dysfunction.

"As a step toward addressing this gap, we examined the influence of nightly sleep on sexual response and activity in young women," write the authors of the new study.

The researchers say they were interested in exploring the hypothesis that poor sleep duration and quality lead to increased difficulties with sexual function, as no previous studies have explored this. Some studies have found a link between sexual response and untreated sleep-related breathing disorders, but were unable to determine if the poorer sexual response was directly caused by the sleep problems.

For the new study, the researchers recruited 171 healthy women. More than half of the sample reported having at least one sexual partner at the start of the study.

To avoid confounding the results, the study did not include any participants that had recently used antidepressants, which are known to reduce sexual response.

Sleep quality and sexual activity were tracked on daily basis

Every day for 2 weeks, participants were asked questions relating to sexual activity, such as "Did you have sex (oral, anal, hand, vaginal, etc.) with another person within the past 24 hours?" and "Did you masturbate within the past 24 hours?" Regarding sleep quality, they were asked after waking each morning, "How many hours of sleep did you get last night?" and "How long did it take you to fall asleep last night?" and they were also asked to rate their quality of sleep.

The researchers found that each additional hour of sleep increased the likelihood of sex with a partner by 14%, and that vaginal arousal was also improved among women who slept longer on average.

In the conclusion to the study, the authors say their findings prove that good sleep is important for maintaining healthy sexual functioning. Levels of desire, genital response and likelihood of sexual activity are all predicted by both nightly and habitual sleep duration. The researchers explain that these effects were independent of age, sexual distress, daytime fatigue or menstruation.

"These findings suggest that acute sleep disturbance may contribute to sexual complaints and reduced sexual activity," the authors write. They make the following recommendations for clinicians and future researchers:

"Future research may benefit from taking a more comprehensive approach to examining sleep parameters by using both subjective and objective measures. Additionally, the relationship between insomnia and sexual dysfunction may prove to be an overlooked and important area of interest for clinical research. Clinicians may consider assessing patients' sleep habits and insomnia symptoms as potential factors influencing sexual difficulties."

In 2013, the journal Sleep published a study that suggested one night of sleep deprivation causes an increase in men's perceptions of women's sexual interest and their intent to have sex.

The researchers behind the Sleep study found that, when well-rested, both men and women rated the sexual intent of women as being significantly lower than that of men. Following a night of deprived sleep, however, men's rating of women's sexual intent increased to the extent that women were no longer perceived as having lower sexual intent than men.

Sleep deprivation is known to cause frontal lobe impairment, explained the authors, which has a negative effect on "risk-taking sensitivity, moral reasoning and inhibition."

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Childhood sleep disorders: how do they affect health and well-being?

Although around 25-40% of children and adolescents in the US experience some form of sleep disorder, such conditions are often overlooked, with a lack of realization of just how important a good night's sleep is for a child's present and later-life health. In line with National Sleep Awareness Week, we look at how sleep problems can affect the short- and long-term health of children and teenagers and what parents can do to reduce these risks.

Insomnia affects around 25% of children and teenagers, while obstructive sleep apnea affects around 2-4% of children.

When you think of sleep disorders in children, the first types likely to spring to mind are night terrors, nightmares and sleepwalking. These fall into a class of sleep disorders known as parasomnias.

It is estimated that up to 6.5% of children - particularly those aged 4-12 years - experience night terrors, defined as episodes of intense fear, screaming and flailing during sleep. Approximately 3% of preschool and school-aged children experience nightmares, while up to 15% of children aged 4-12 years sleepwalk.

Perhaps less associated with children and adolescents is insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea. In fact, insomnia, the inability to fall asleep or frequent awakening, is estimated to affect around 25% of children and teenagers. Obstructive sleep apnea - when an individual stops breathing for long periods during sleep - affects around 2-4% of children.

What are the causes and symptoms of childhood sleep disorders?

There are a number of factors that can cause childhood and adolescent sleep disorders.

Just like adults, children and teenagers can experience stress, which can interfere with sleep. Consumption of energy drinks - which contain caffeine - is also known to disrupt sleep, as is use of certain medications, such as antidepressants and corticosteroids.

Children and adolescents are also more likely to develop sleep disorders if they have a family history of such conditions, and poor sleep habits, or poor "sleep hygiene" - such as going to bed at irregular times or attempting to sleep in an inadequate environment - can negatively affect sleep quality.

Increasingly, researchers are pointing to the use of technology as a driver for sleep disorders. Last month, Medical News Todayreported on a study published in BMJ Open that found children are 50% more likely to have problems getting to sleep if they spend 4 hours a day or more using media devices.

"In adolescents, with the increase in popularity of technology, many teens are staying up very late communicating with friends on smartphones and tablets. The stimulation and light exposure from these devices are associated with late bedtimes and insomnia," Dr. Neil Kline, a sleep physician and internist at the American Sleep Association, told MNT.

Although often harmless, snoring can be a major indicator for a sleep disorder in children and adolescents. It can be a sign of sleep apnea or disturbed sleep quality.

Other symptoms of sleep disorders to look out for include difficulty getting to sleep, daytime fatigue, poor memory, lack of concentration, reduced attention span, irritability and mood swings, hyperactivity and depression.

"If there is any concern for a sleep problem, such as a child taking longer than 20-30 minutes to fall asleep, not sleeping through the night after about age 1 year, or snoring, it is important to discuss this with the child's pediatrician, health care provider or a sleep doctor," Dr. Shalini Paruthi, a spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), told us.

Children and teenagers are not getting enough sleep

According to recently updated recommendations from the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), the number of hours sleep children and adolescents need is as follows:

Over the past 20 years, the number of hours teenagers sleep each night has fallen.

• Newborns (0-3 months): 14-17 hours a day
• Infants (4-11 months): 12-15 hours
• Toddlers (1-2 years): 11-14 hours
• Preschoolers (3-5 years): 10-13 hours
• School-age (6-13 years): 9-11 hours
• Teenagers (14-17 years): 8-10 hours.

However, it seems many children and teenagers are failing to meet sleep recommendations.

A 2014 poll from the NSF, which asked parents to estimate how much sleep their child gets on a school night, found that children aged 6-10 are only getting around 8.9 hours sleep a night, while 13-14-year-olds are only getting around 7.7 hours sleep each night.

More recently, MNT reported on a study published in the journal Pediatrics revealing that the number of hours teenagers sleep each night has declined over the past 20 years.

The study, which involved more than 270,000 adolescents, found that 72% of 15-year-olds were getting at least 7 hours or sleep each night in 1991, but this fell to only 63% in 2012.

"Declines in self-reported adolescent sleep across the last 20 years are concerning and suggest that there is potentially a significant public health concern that warrants health education and literacy approaches," said lead study author Dr. Katherine W. Keyes, of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

But why is lack of sleep among children and adolescents a public health concern?

Sleep deprivation linked to obesity, diabetes and heart problems

Sleep deprivation can cause a number of health problems for children and adolescents, both in childhood and adulthood.

In 2011, a study published in The BMJ claimed that children who do not get enough sleep are at significantly higher risk of becoming overweight, compared with children who get sufficient sleep.

Another study published in The Journal of Pediatrics in December 2014 reported a similar finding, associating severe lack of sleep and sleep-disordered breathing in early childhood with increased risk of obesity.

The researchers found that children with the shortest sleep time at the ages of 5 and 6 years were at 60-100% increased risk of obesity by the age of 15, compared with children with sufficient sleep times.

"If impaired sleep in childhood is conclusively shown to cause future obesity, it may be vital for parents and physicians to identify sleep problems early, so that corrective action can be taken and obesity prevented," commented lead study author Prof. Karen Bonuck, from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York, NY.

In March last year, another study published in the same journal found that overweight adolescents who do not get enough sleep may be at increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

Past studies have also associated sleep apnea in children with delayed growth and heart failure.

Lack of sleep 'makes it nearly impossible for children to reach their full potential'

It is widely accepted that sleep is important for learning and memory. In June 2014, MNT reported on a study that suggested as such. It found that sleep after learning boosts growth of connections between brain cells, helping them to communicate with each other.

A more recent study found that sleep is particularly important for infants' learning skills. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers revealed that infants aged 6-12 months who had at least one 30 minute nap within 4 hours of learning a new skill were much more likely to demonstrate the skills they learned once they awoke.

With findings such as these, it is no wonder that lack of sleep and poor sleep quality has been associated with poor learning and educational attainment among children and adolescents.

A 2013 study conducted by researchers from Boston College in the UK found that sleep deprivation was a major contributor to poor grades in numerous countries. While taking literacy tests, 76% of American 9-10-years-olds were identified as sleep-deprived, and these students were found to have poorer results.

"I think we underestimate the impact of sleep. Our data show that across countries internationally, on average, children who have more sleep achieve higher in maths, science and reading. That is exactly what our data show," study co-author Chad Minnich told BBC News.

Dr. Paruthi believes sufficient sleep is crucial for a child's overall health and development. She told MNT:

"Sleep disorders in children and teens can hinder them in school, in social situations, in development and nearly every other aspect of their lives, with the negative impact potentially extending into adulthood. Without healthy sleep, it will be nearly impossible for children to reach their full potential."

Parents should not assume children will 'grow out' of sleep disorders

It is possible that as a child or teenager gets older, symptoms of their sleep disorder may ease. This is most likely for parasomnias, such as sleepwalking and night terrors.

But in some cases, sleep disorders can persist well into adulthood. "For example, children who have sleep apnea are more likely to develop sleep apnea as adults," noted Dr. Kline.

As such, sleep physicians say parents should not ignore signs of sleep disorders in children with the assumption they will "grow out" of them.

"Parents should never assume that their child will grow out of a sleep disorder," Dr. Paruthi told us. "Parents should talk to their child's doctor about how their child sleeps and discuss any potential sleep problems. It is important for a doctor to monitor sleep problems during childhood, identify any underlying causes and prescribe appropriate treatment when necessary."

Depending on what form of sleep disorder a child has, there are a number of treatments available. Doctors may recommend a melatonin supplement, for example. Melatonin is a natural hormone made by the body that helps regulate sleep.

Cognitive behavioral therapy may also be useful, in which psychological approaches - rather than medication - are used to improve a child's sleep time and quality.

Tips to improve a child's sleep

But while there are a number of therapies that can help treat symptoms of sleep disorders, there are many things the NSF say parents can do to improve the likelihood of their child getting a good night's sleep:

The NSF say parents should ensure their child is sleeping in an adequate environment; if it is too noisy, too cold or too hot, this can disrupt sleep.

• Make sleep a primary health priority in your family
• Talk to your child about the importance of sleep for their health and well-being
• Set regular bedtimes for yourself and your children and stick to them
• Be aware of how your child is using media devices in the bedroom and set boundaries for use before bedtime
• Ensure you and your child are educated on how light from media devices may impair sleep
• Rather than watching TV, playing video games or browsing the Internet before bedtime, encourage your child to read a book or listen to music
• Ensure your child is sleeping in an adequate environment; if it is too noisy, too cold or too hot, this can disrupt sleep
• Talk to your child's teacher to find out about their alertness during the school day, and ask them to inform you if they fall asleep in lessons.

To find out more about how to improve your child's sleep, visit the NSF website. Our Knowledge Center articles provide more general information on specific sleep disorders, including obstructive sleep apnea and insomnia.

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Full moon affects not only werewolves but human sleep too

It appears there is some truth in the saying that it is harder to get a good night's sleep when the moon is full. Tests on Swiss volunteers as they spent nights in a sleep lab showed a link between moon phases and sleep patterns: sleep was more disturbed when there was a full moon.
Led by a team from the University of Basel, the researchers report in the July 25th online issue of Current Biology how they found a full moon disrupts sleep quality.
Lead author Professor Christian Cajochen, who is based at the Centre for Chronobiology at the Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Basel, and colleagues analyzed data taken from over 30 healthy volunteers of various ages as they slept in a sleep lab.
As the participants slept, their brain activity, eye movements, and hormone levels in different phases of sleep were measured.
Neither the lab researchers who took the sleep measurements nor the participants were aware that the authors were later going to do an analysis of the sleep data against moon cycles.
It was only after the lab results were produced that it was decided to compare them to moon phases.
Also, the participants could not see the moon from their beds in the sleep lab.
The analysis showed that the participants did not sleep so well when there was a full moon. This was reflected in both subjective measures (where the participants themselves said whether their night's sleep had been good or not) and the objective measures.
On nights with a full moon:

• Brain activity associated with deep sleep (during non-rapid eye movement) fell by nearly a third,
• On average it took the volunteers 5 minutes longer to fall asleep, and their sleep was 20 minutes shorter, and
• There was a drop in levels of melatonin, a protein that helps regulate sleep and wake cycles.

The authors write:
"This is the first reliable evidence that a lunar rhythm can modulate sleep structure in humans when measured under the highly controlled conditions of a circadian laboratory study protocol without time cues."
Cajochen suggests the response to moon phase that they observed, which they call the "circalunar rhythm," could be a relic of ancient times when human behavior was more heavily influenced by the moon.
It would seem that even for some of today's humans, paying attention to phases of the moon can be a lifesaver. A study published in 2011 suggests you are less likely to end up as a lion's dinner if you pay close attention to the moon; in southeastern Tanzania, that is.
There is evidence that many organisms, especially those that live in the sea, are influenced by moonlight.
However, this study finds that even without being able to see the moonlight, the body is somehow still responding to the fact it is a full moon.
It remains for other studies now to uncover the biology that explains this influence.
A large study from the Netherlands published earlier this month suggests that a good night's sleep boosts the benefits of a healthy lifestyle on the heart.

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Late Bedtimes Linked To Weight Gain In Healthy People

If you are healthy and go to bed late regularly and you do not sleep enough, your risk of gaining weight is significantly greater than if you go to bed earlier and have a good night's sleep every night, says a new study published in the journal Sleep.

If you also eat late at night, you will probably put on even more weight, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania added. In fact, they say it is the extra eating among sleep-deprived individuals that appears to be the main reason for the weight gain.

The authors say that theirs is the largest study so far of healthy people, under controlled laboratory conditions, that demonstrates a clear association between very late night sleeping combined with sleep restriction and weight gain.

Andrea Spaeth and team had one group of participants sleeping just from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. each night for five nights running, and compared them to a control group who were in bed from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.

The investigators also found that those who slept much less consumed more food, and therefore calories, compared to the normal-hours sleepers. Meals eaten during the late-night hours had a higher overall fat content than the other meals.

Lead author, Andrea Spaeth, a doctoral candidate in the psychology department at the University of Pennsylvania, said:

"Although previous epidemiological studies have suggested an association between short sleep duration and weight gain/obesity, we were surprised to observe significant weight gain during an in-laboratory study."

The experiment was conducted at the Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. It involved 225 people aged between 22 and 50 years, all of them healthy and non-obese. They were randomly selected either into the sleep restriction group or control group, and stayed in the lab for up to 18 days.

The participants were all served set meals at the same time each day. They also had free, 24-hour access to a well-stocked kitchen. They were allowed to move around, but not to exercise. They could play video games, watch TV, read and do other sedentary activities.

The study also showed that when sleep-deprived for several consecutive days:

• Men put on more weight than women
• African-Americans piled on the pounds more rapidly than Caucasians

Spaeth said:

"Among sleep-restricted subjects, there were also significant gender and race differences in weight gain. African Americans, who are at greater risk for obesity and more likely to be habitual short sleepers, may be more susceptible to weight gain in response to sleep restriction. Future studies should focus on identifying the behavioral and physiological mechanisms underlying this increased vulnerability."

Weight Loss Programs Should Include Proper Sleep

Researchers from the University of Colorado Bolder explained in the March 2013 issue of PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) that even though sleep-deprived people burn more calories because they are moving around when they would otherwise be sleeping, these people end up consuming many more calories and gain weight. Their extra calorie-consumption is greater than the additional calories burned while being awake longer.

Kenneth Wright, director of the Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory explained that it is not just the less sleep that causes weight gain. When people sleep less they eat more.

Wright said "I don't think extra sleep by itself is going to lead to weight loss. But I think it could help. If we can incorporate healthy sleep into weight-loss and weight-maintenance programs, our findings suggest that it may assist people to obtain a healthier weight."

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Sleep Apnea In Kids Linked To Behavioral Problems

Obstructive sleep apnea, a common type of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), has been linked to elevated rates of ADHD-like behavioral issues in kids, in addition to learning and adaptive problems.

The findings were published in the journal Sleep and came about after a five-year study which analyzed data from a longitudinal cohort called the Tucson Children's Assessment of Sleep Apnea Study (TuCASA).

The study assessed Caucasian and Hispanic kids ranging in age from 6 to 11 years to measure the incidence and prevalence of SDB and its consequences on neurobehavioral functioning.

Michelle Perfect, PhD, the study's lead author and assistant professor in the school psychology program in the department of disability and psychoeducational studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson, said:

"This study provides some helpful information for medical professionals consulting with parents about treatment options for children with SDB that, although it may remit, there are considerable behavioral risks associated with continued SDB. School personnel should also consider the possibility that SDB contributes to difficulties with hyperactivity, learning and behavioral and emotional deregulation in the classroom."

The study consisted of 263 kids who participated in a sleep study and a neurobehavioral test of assessments which included youth and parent-documented rating scales.

The outcomes revealed that 23 kids had incident sleep apnea that developed during the trial period, while 21 kids had persistent sleep apnea for the entire length of the study. An additional 41 children who started out with sleep apnea stopped having breathing issues during sleep when examined at the five-year follow-up.

In children with incident sleep apnea, the risk of having behavioral issues was four to five times higher. In kids with persistent sleep apnea, that risk was six times higher.

Compared with children who never experienced SDB, those with sleep apnea were more inclined to have parent-documented issues in the areas of:

• attention
• disruptive behaviors
• hyperactivity
• social competency
• self-care
• communication

Kids with persistent sleep apnea were shown to be seven times more likely to have parent-documented learning issues and three times more likely to earn grades of C or under.

Research reported at the 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in 2010, revealed that the academic grades of children with sleep apnea are worse than students who do not have sleep-related breathing problems.

The authors noted that this was the first sleep-related study to utilize a standardized survey to measure adaptive functioning in normal youths with and without SDB.

Perfect concluded, "Even though SDB appears to decline into adolescence, taking a wait and see approach is risky and families and clinicians alike should identify potential treatments."

Sleep apnea is prevalent in approximately two percent of healthy children, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Sleep apnea in kids of this age is generally due to oversized tonsils and adenoids. Most of these children with sleep apnea also experience loud snoring.

Treatment choices include the removal of the adenoids or tonsils via surgery and the use of continuous positive airway pressure therapy (CPAP).

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