http://www.healthblognews.com Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:29:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 http://www.healthblognews.com/family-meals-adequate-sleep-and-limited-tv-may-lower-childhood-obesity/ http://www.healthblognews.com/family-meals-adequate-sleep-and-limited-tv-may-lower-childhood-obesity/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:29:09 +0000 Healthblognews.com http://www.healthblognews.com/family-meals-adequate-sleep-and-limited-tv-may-lower-childhood-obesity/ A new national study suggests that preschool-aged children are likely to have a lower risk for obesity if they regularly engage in one or more of three specific household routines: eating dinner as a family, getting adequate sleep and limiting their weekday television viewing time. The study showed that 4-year-olds living in homes with all three routines had an almost 40 percent lower prevalence of obesity than did children living in homes that practiced none of these routines.

]]> http://www.healthblognews.com/family-meals-adequate-sleep-and-limited-tv-may-lower-childhood-obesity/feed/ 0 http://www.healthblognews.com/melatonin-precursor-stimulates-growth-factor-circuits-in-brain-2/ http://www.healthblognews.com/melatonin-precursor-stimulates-growth-factor-circuits-in-brain-2/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:29:09 +0000 Healthblognews.com http://www.healthblognews.com/melatonin-precursor-stimulates-growth-factor-circuits-in-brain-2/ N-acetylserotonin, the immediate precursor to melatonin, activates the same growth circuits in the brain as BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor). The results have implications for how some antidepressants function and suggest that the molecules and pathways involved in mood regulation and circadian rhythms are intertwined.

]]> http://www.healthblognews.com/melatonin-precursor-stimulates-growth-factor-circuits-in-brain-2/feed/ 0 http://www.healthblognews.com/sids-linked-to-low-levels-of-serotonin/ http://www.healthblognews.com/sids-linked-to-low-levels-of-serotonin/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:29:08 +0000 Healthblognews.com http://www.healthblognews.com/sids-linked-to-low-levels-of-serotonin/ The brains of infants who die of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) produce low levels of serotonin, a brain chemical that conveys messages between cells and plays a vital role in regulating breathing, heart rate, and sleep, researchers report.

]]> http://www.healthblognews.com/sids-linked-to-low-levels-of-serotonin/feed/ 0 http://www.healthblognews.com/reduced-brain-gray-matter-concentration-found-in-patients-with-severe-obstructive-sleep-apnea/ http://www.healthblognews.com/reduced-brain-gray-matter-concentration-found-in-patients-with-severe-obstructive-sleep-apnea/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:29:08 +0000 Healthblognews.com http://www.healthblognews.com/reduced-brain-gray-matter-concentration-found-in-patients-with-severe-obstructive-sleep-apnea/ In a study of 36 newly diagnosed men with severe obstructive sleep apnea and 31 healthy controls, significant gray matter concentration deficits were found in multiple brain areas of men with OSA, including limbic structures, prefrontal cortices and the cerebellum. These changes in brain structure may be related to problems such as memory impairment and executive dysfunction that are observed in OSA patients.

]]> http://www.healthblognews.com/reduced-brain-gray-matter-concentration-found-in-patients-with-severe-obstructive-sleep-apnea/feed/ 0 http://www.healthblognews.com/healthy-adults-may-need-less-sleep-as-they-age/ http://www.healthblognews.com/healthy-adults-may-need-less-sleep-as-they-age/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:29:08 +0000 Healthblognews.com http://www.healthblognews.com/healthy-adults-may-need-less-sleep-as-they-age/ A new study suggests that healthy older adults without sleep disorders can expect to have a reduced “sleep need” and to be less sleepy during the day than healthy young adults.

]]> http://www.healthblognews.com/healthy-adults-may-need-less-sleep-as-they-age/feed/ 0 http://www.healthblognews.com/brain-responses-during-anesthesia-mimic-those-during-natural-deep-sleep/ http://www.healthblognews.com/brain-responses-during-anesthesia-mimic-those-during-natural-deep-sleep/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:29:08 +0000 Healthblognews.com http://www.healthblognews.com/brain-responses-during-anesthesia-mimic-those-during-natural-deep-sleep/ The brains of people under anesthesia respond to stimuli as they do in the deepest part of sleep — lending credence to a developing theory of consciousness and suggesting a new method to assess loss of consciousness in conditions such as coma.

]]> http://www.healthblognews.com/brain-responses-during-anesthesia-mimic-those-during-natural-deep-sleep/feed/ 0 http://www.healthblognews.com/losing-sleep-losing-brain/ http://www.healthblognews.com/losing-sleep-losing-brain/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:29:08 +0000 Healthblognews.com http://www.healthblognews.com/losing-sleep-losing-brain/ Chronic and severely stressful situations, like those connected to depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, have been associated with smaller volumes in “stress sensitive” brain regions, such as the cingulate region of the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus, a brain region involved in memory formation.

]]> http://www.healthblognews.com/losing-sleep-losing-brain/feed/ 0 http://www.healthblognews.com/drowsiness-staring-and-other-mental-lapses-may-signal-alzheimers-disease/ http://www.healthblognews.com/drowsiness-staring-and-other-mental-lapses-may-signal-alzheimers-disease/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:29:08 +0000 Healthblognews.com http://www.healthblognews.com/drowsiness-staring-and-other-mental-lapses-may-signal-alzheimers-disease/ Cognitive fluctuations, or episodes when train of thought temporarily is lost, are more likely to occur in older persons who are developing Alzheimer’s disease than in their healthy peers, according to scientists. Cognitive fluctuations include excessive daytime sleepiness, staring into space and disorganized or illogical thinking.

]]> http://www.healthblognews.com/drowsiness-staring-and-other-mental-lapses-may-signal-alzheimers-disease/feed/ 0 http://www.healthblognews.com/new-technique-uses-zebrafish-behavior-to-screen-for-useful-compounds-pathways-affecting-sleep-and-wakefulness-discovered/ http://www.healthblognews.com/new-technique-uses-zebrafish-behavior-to-screen-for-useful-compounds-pathways-affecting-sleep-and-wakefulness-discovered/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:29:08 +0000 Healthblognews.com http://www.healthblognews.com/new-technique-uses-zebrafish-behavior-to-screen-for-useful-compounds-pathways-affecting-sleep-and-wakefulness-discovered/ A robust new technique for screening drugs’ effects on zebrafish behavior is pointing scientists toward unexpected compounds and pathways that may govern sleep and wakefulness in humans. Among their more intriguing findings: Various anti-inflammatory agents in the immune system, long known to induce sleep during infection, may also shape normal sleep/wake cycles.

]]> http://www.healthblognews.com/new-technique-uses-zebrafish-behavior-to-screen-for-useful-compounds-pathways-affecting-sleep-and-wakefulness-discovered/feed/ 0 http://www.healthblognews.com/obstructive-sleep-apnea-may-worsen-diabetes/ http://www.healthblognews.com/obstructive-sleep-apnea-may-worsen-diabetes/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:29:08 +0000 Healthblognews.com http://www.healthblognews.com/obstructive-sleep-apnea-may-worsen-diabetes/ Obstructive sleep apnea adversely affects glucose control in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a new study.

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