A recent Finnish study suggests that children’s short sleep duration even without sleeping difficulties increases the risk for behavioral symptoms of ADHD. During the recent decades, sleep duration has decreased in many countries; in the United States a third of children are estimated to suffer from inadequate sleep. It…

Researchers at Université Laval’s Faculty of Medicine have found that people who sleep too much or not enough are at greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance. The risk is 2½ times higher for people who sleep less than 7 hours or more than 8 hours a night. The findings were [...]

According to the Medilexicon’s medical dictionary, restless legs syndrome is “a sense of indescribable uneasiness, twitching, or restlessness that occurs in the legs after going to bed, frequently leading to insomnia, which may be relieved temporarily by walking about; thought to be caused by inadequate circulatio…

Laboratory and epidemiological studies continue to show that sleep curtailment and/or decreased sleep quality can disturb neuroendocrine control of appetite, leading to overeating, and can decrease insulin and/or increase insulin resistance, both steps on the road to Type 2 diabetes. On April 22, at the Experimental Biology 2…

While it was thought that the internationally approved gold standard treatment was sufficient to control obstructive sleep apnoea and its dangerous consequences, a major French study shortly to be published in the European Respiratory Journal (ERJ) will certainly set the cat among the pigeons. Approximately 10% of the subject…

A new study suggests that sleep problems lead to increased pain and fatigue in cancer patients. The results indicate that interventions aimed at trouble sleeping would be expected to improve both pain and fatigue in this patient population. Results show that more than half the sample reported having trouble sleeping, with 26 …

A new study determined that over-the-counter melatonin medication can shorted the length of time it takes for children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), Fragile X Syndrome (FXS), or both to fall asleep at the beginning of the night. Results of the study indicated that children who received over-the-counter melatonin trea…

Jet lag is the bane of many travelers, and similar fatigue can plague people who work in rotating shifts. Scientists know the problem results from disruption to the body’s normal rhythms and are getting closer to a better understanding that might lead to more effective treatment. New University of Washington research sh…

Sleep is such an essential part of human existence that we spend about a third of our lives doing it — some more successfully than others. Sleep disorders afflict some 50-70 million people in the United States and are a major cause of disease and injury. People who suffer from disturbed sleep have an increased [...]

After about seven months growing in the womb, a human fetus spends most of its time asleep. Its brain cycles back and forth between the frenzied activity of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and the quiet resting state of non-REM sleep. But whether the brains of younger, immature fetuses cycle with sleep or are simply [...]