A new study in the U.S. says that studying the sleeping behavior of children might help point out who are at high risks of developing respiratory disorders after surgical removal of their adenoids and tonsils. The research involves studying the medical records in a pediatric hospital of as many as 1,131 children who had undergone surgery.

The researchers discovered that there were 151 patients who participated in polysomnography (sleep study) before going under the knife. out of that number, 23 later developed respiratory problems. The same number of children scored much higher than their healthy counterparts on the apnea-hyopnea index.

The index is designed to measure how severe a person is suffering from apnea, as well as the gravity of disruptions they experience while sleeping and low levels of oxygen in their blood. meanwhile, the children who scored high on the hyopnea index were found to take very shallow breaths and thus exhibited severely low respiratory rates.

Source: BusinessWeek

A study has found that getting exposure from artificial light sources, especially late during the day and before sleeping hours on the quality of sleep of an individual. Artificial light sources have the ability to decrease the production of a hormone known as melatonin in the body, eventually contributing to negative effects on a person’s health.

Production of the hormone is centered in the brain’s pineal gland, and typically occurs in the evening. Melatonin is the hormone that is responsible for regulating the sleep and wake cycle, and is capable of decreasing both body temperature and blood pressure, explains Dr. Joshua Gooley who is a researcher at the Harvard Medical School in Boston and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Gooley stresses that far too many people prefer keeping the light on right before and even after bedtime. thus, a lot of people suffer from sleep disorders connected to their body’s failure to regulate glucose, blood pressure and temperature levels, explains Gooley.

Source: WebMD

Military top brass are becoming more and more worried about the increasing trend of prescription drug abuse by military officers. despite this, an investigation by Nextgov yields a stark reality—the U.S. Central Command has a policy that lets members of the military acquire highly addictive psychotropic drugs before embarking on combat missions. The amount of drug supply that is allowed by the said policy should last an officer anywhere from 90 to 180 days while in the field.

Included in the list of drugs permitted by the policy are Xanax and Valium which are both applicable as treatment for depression. also included is the highly addictive antipsychotic drug known as Seroquel, which is medically classified as a treatment for neurological disorders such as mania, depression, bipolar behavior and schizophrenia.

All of the said drugs fall under the CENTCOM Central Nervous system drug list. Critics say that the said policy only worsens the problem of troopers using prescription drugs on increasing and up to abusive levels.

Source: nextgov.com

Are you troubled day and night by your legs which you just can’t stop from jittering? The symptom is known as Restless Leg Syndrome, and current research still lacks substantial information about its causes and why it affects people of all age brackets. It’s most evident during sleep when one cannot keep at least one leg from moving. The symptom only dies down when one is constantly moving.

The symptoms range from mild to severe, possibly disabling for persons in extreme cases. Some scientists theorize that its causes may be linked to several neurologic and autoimmune disorders as well as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

In some cases, there have been links found between the symptoms and sleep apnea, thus bringing forth the possibility of oxygen shortage in the blood and tissues as well as retention of waste products in the body. also found as a possible cause is lack of iron in the blood, which is directly associated with lack of sleep.

Source: Htrnews.com

The Danish Institute for Health Services and the University of Copenhagen have come up with a research which followed the socio-economic costs of the sleep disorder hyperinsomnia. Researchers say that it all starts with people feeling excessively drowsy throughout their day and thus having to take naps several times.

Clinical Neurology Professor Poul Jennum at the University of Copenhagen Center for Health Aging explains hyperinsomnia as a type of symptom exhibited by patients who are suffering from sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, narcolepsy, loud snoring, restless leg syndrome as well as obesity-related breathing troubles. These patients were also found to be heavily dependent on medicine, health services and generally unemployed.

Researchers thus conclude that socio-economic consequences grow as sleep disorders get more severe. They were able to demonstrate how patients exhibiting hyperinsomnia were relying on state subsidized medication as compared to their healthy counterparts. Higher intake of medication and more frequent rate of hospitalization also coincided with increased rates of unemployment for patients who were left undiagnosed and not getting treatment.

Source: Times of India

Unknown to many, there is one common cure for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) that offers the extra perks of battling tiredness, boosting energy levels and help patients get a good night’s sleep. The treatment, known as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), has been proven to increase energy of the human body just several weeks since starting treatment.

OSA is a common sleep problem described as pauses in breathing during sleep caused by obstructions in a person’s air passage. The obstruction is due to collapsed soft tissues around the rear of a person’s throat as muscles relax when a person is sleeping. Persons suffering from OSA suffer from restlessness during sleep and are also highly characterized by loud snoring. during daytime, they mostly complain of fatigue, drowsiness, and energy shortage.

CPAP is highly recommended by researchers as treatment for OSA patients. The process requires a mask to be worn that will aid by forcing oxygen-rich air streams into a patient’s nose to help breathing. CPAP has been proven to improve the supply of oxygen while a person is sleeping, thus lessening the risks of blocked air passage and improving daytime energy levels.

Source: WebMD

A recent study from Denmark found that there might be a link between sleep apnea, obesity and life conditions such as unemployment, medicine intake and constant interaction with health care providers. Published in the Thorax journal, the study focused on patients that are suffering from sleep apnea as well as obesity hypoventilation syndrome, and discovered that they were two to three times more often getting medicinal prescription and hospital treatment as compared to healthier control subjects.

The study also found that members of the same group of patients were paying for health care costs that are almost double that of healthy subjects. Unemployment was 30 percent higher, especially among patients suffering from obesity. The researchers delved further and discovered that while the same patients were employed, their salaries were almost 30 percent less than those of their healthy counterparts. The findings suggest that unemployment issues arise mostly from both their obesity problems plus lower educational attainment.

Further research findings show that the patients that suffered sleep apnea and obesity-related problems were more dependent on welfare benefits as well as state-subsidized prescription medicines. On a deeper level, the study concludes that as early as 8 years before patients are eventually diagnosed with sleep apnea and obesity-related respiratory disorders, they have already been suffering the socioeconomic consequences of low employment rate, lower income and dependence on state subsidy.

Source: RTmagazine