Monthly Archives: December 2014

Sleep researchers have long warned that drinking alcohol can wreak havoc on your ability to get a good night’s sleep. This is in direct contrast to the prevailing wisdom that having a nip or nightcap before turning in helps you fall asleep and stay asleep. Now researchers from the University of Missouri in Columbia are publishing the results of a five year study on the relationship between drinking alcohol and sleep, and their conclusions are shining a bright light on exactly what the mechanism is that makes alcohol the enemy of sleep. Continue reading →

The generally accepted target for sleep quantity for healthy adults is between seven and nine hours of sleep. Hit that on most nights and you’re more likely to feel good, be mentally sharp, and have a better chance of avoiding several serious chronic conditions, but almost half of us have a hard time getting in that amount of sleep. Imagine, then the challenges that teens face. Not only are they supposed to get even more sleep — between nine and ten hours per night — but they are expected to do it while showing up at school as early as 7:00 in the morning and being naturally programmed to not be able to fall asleep until 11:00 or 12:00 at night. Continue reading →

Sleep and the lack of sleep have been being linked to a laundry list of physical problems ranging from obesity to hypertension. Now comes word that sleep disorders, or more specifically obstructive sleep apnea, may also be associated with the trend towards male infertility. There has been a broad decline in male sperm quality that has been noted over the last two decades. This issue was documented in a 2012 French study that showed that between 1989 and 2005, men with an average age of 34 to 36 years old showed a decrease in sperm concentrations. The average numbers fell by an astonishing 32 percent. There have been other studies that have backed up these results, and the medical community has expressed concern about what they referred to as a sperm crisis. The obvious question was ‘why?’ What could be causing such a rapid decline? Continue reading →

If you are a person who suffers from a sleep disorder or chronic insomnia, you might think that any kind of testing or medication that a physician might provide to help you alleviate your symptoms would be a good thing But according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), there are some tests and treatments that should not be provided in specific circumstances. Continue reading →

With the remarkable interest that sleep has generated in the United States, you’d think that we would be getting a whole lot more of it than we actually are, but the statistics show the exact opposite. America is a remarkably sleep-deprived nation, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been ringing the alarm bell about it for a while. The organization has called insufficient sleep a public health epidemic responsible for an increase in the risk of “motor vehicle crashes, industrial disasters and medical and other occupational errors.” It also points the finger at sleep deprivation for chronic maladies such as “hypertension, diabetes, depression and obesity.” Continue reading →

When you’re one of those people who always have a hard time getting to sleep, the holidays can make things even more challenging. Whether it’s a matter of staying up late wrapping gifts (or stressing about the gifts you have left to purchase), getting the house together for holiday guests, or getting used to a new bed when you’re the one travelling to visit, this time of year can be particularly difficult. Continue reading →