A lack of sleep can affect many aspects of a child’s life. Sleep deprivation can affect a child’s mood, behaviour and academic performance, writes Paula Goodyer. What’s the difference between a child who’s overtired and one with a behaviour disorder? Not a lot, says sleep specialist Dr Chris Seton, recalling a US experiment in which 50 children with ADHD were put together in a hall with 50 sleep deprived children – and sleep physicians and ADHD experts were asked to tell them apart. Read More »
Parasomnia is a broad term used to describe various uncommon disruptive sleep-related disorders.
Parasomnias are disruptive sleep-related disorders that can occur during arousals from REM sleep or partial arousals from Non-REM sleep.
Parasomnias are intense, infrequent physical acts that occur during sleep. Read More »
Peter Tripp: 201 Hours Awake
The New York DJ, Peter Tripp, set a world record for sleep deprivation in 1959. He went for 201 hours (8.4 days) without sleep. He spent most of the time in a glass booth in Times Square, and the rest in a hotel room across the street, set up as a laboratory to monitor his reactions. Read More »
A week doesn’t go by for Ed Stepanski, PhD, without a call from a physician who’s looking for a qualified sleep psychologist. As the director of the Sleep Disorders Service and Research Center at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago, Stepanski is one of about 1,700 board-certified sleep medicine specialists trained to treat insomnia, narcolepsy, circadian rhythm disorders and other sleep problems. Read More »
A meal of starchy rice four hours before bedtime may solve your insomnia problems, new research from the University of Sydney has found.
The University of Sydney’s Dr Chin Moi Chow and colleagues found that carbohydrates that quickly raise blood sugar (those with a high glycemic index) may hasten sleep. Read More »
Traditional Chinese Medicine theory dictates that the body’s energy, or qi, circulates through 12 meridians, which are linked to internal organs and emotions (see chart below). The heart meridian, for instance, relates to anxiety, the liver meridian to stress and anger, the spleen meridian to worry. Too much of any emotion can affect its correlating meridian, creating a disturbance in shen. “Shen is the energy of our emotional body,” explains Claudette Baker, L.Ac., president emeritus of the American Association of Oriental Medicine. “If it is affected by work or stress, it can keep us from falling asleep, prevent REM sleep, and cause us to wake easily.” Read More »
Insomniacs know all too well what it’s like to lie awake in a tangle of sheets, the day’s worries parading through the brain as the minutes tick past with agonizing slowness. With studies linking troubled sleep to a variety of health problems including heart attacks and obesity, it’s enough to keep anyone awake at night. Read More »
Pilot fatigue is becoming a global problem that requires urgent attention as airlines compete in an increasingly cut-throat environment, industry experts have warned. Read More »
Road Hazards
Prevalence of sleep apnea among licensed commercial drivers:
■ 17% mild sleep apnea
■ 5% moderate
■ 4% severe
Source: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
Transportation risk managers and commercial drivers are grappling with the problem of sleep apnea, a condition that contributes to daytime drowsiness, as they try to find ways to improve safety on the road. Read More »
Sutherlands Transport has recently implemented in more than 50% of their fleet the latest fatigue management technology- Optalert™ Road System. Read More »
