Healthblognews.com : Health News

Frequent napping linked to increased risk of type 2 diabetes in older adults

Healthblognews.com — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 10:49:32 +0000

A study shows that frequent napping is associated with an elevated prevalence of type 2 diabetes and impaired fasting glucose in an older Chinese population.

Sleep differences among ethnic groups revealed in new poll

Healthblognews.com — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 10:49:32 +0000

Significant differences have been found in the sleep habits and attitudes of Asians, African-Americans, Hispanics and whites.

Extremes of sleep related to increased fat around organs

Healthblognews.com — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 10:49:32 +0000

Not getting enough sleep does more damage than just leaving you with puffy eyes. It can cause fat to accumulate around your organs — more dangerous, researchers say, than those pesky love handles and jiggly thighs.

‘Biological clock’ could be a key to better health, longer life

Healthblognews.com — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 10:49:32 +0000

If you aren’t getting a good, consistent and regular night’s sleep, a new study suggests it could reduce your ability to handle oxidative stress, cause impacts to your health, increase motor and neurological deterioration, speed aging and ultimately cut short your life. That is, if your “biological clock” genes work the same way as those of a fruit fly. And they probably do.

Children with insomnia may have impaired heart rate variability

Healthblognews.com — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 10:49:32 +0000

Children with insomnia and shorter sleep duration had impaired modulation of heart rhythm during sleep, researchers report.

Naps help babies learn and retain new information

Healthblognews.com — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 10:49:32 +0000

Psychologists have found that infants need adequate sleep, including regular naps, in order to effectively learn about the new world they live in.

Midday nap markedly boosts the brain’s learning capacity

Healthblognews.com — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 10:49:32 +0000

If you see a student dozing in the library or a co-worker catching 40 winks in her cubicle, don’t roll your eyes. New research shows that an hour’s nap can dramatically boost and restore your brain power. Indeed, the findings suggest that a biphasic sleep schedule not only refreshes the mind, but can make you smarter.

Multiple risk factors existed in 78 percent of sudden infant death syndrome cases

Healthblognews.com — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 10:49:32 +0000

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) continues to be the third leading cause of infant death, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), despite a decline in SIDS that is associated with a rise in safe-sleep practices for newborns and infants. Researchers have identified that more than 96 percent of infants who died of SIDS were exposed to known risk factors, among them sleeping on their side or stomach, or exposure to tobacco smoke, and that 78 percent of SIDS cases contained multiple risk factors.

Immune system turns on the body in narcolepsy

Healthblognews.com — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 10:49:32 +0000

It is thought that the sleep disorder narcolepsy is an autoimmune disorder — that is, it is caused by the individual’s immune system attacking certain cells in the body — but this had not been proven definitively. But now, researchers have now identified autoantibodies (immune molecules that target a natural protein in the body rather than a protein from an infectious agent) in narcolepsy patients.

Behavioral therapy improves sleep and lives of patients with pain

Healthblognews.com — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 10:49:32 +0000

Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia significantly improved sleep for patients with chronic neck or back pain and also reduced the extent to which pain interfered with their daily functioning, according to a new study.