News by Subject Medicine & Health

A growing number of studies suggest that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), or 'sleep-disordered breathing,' is associated with a higher risk for memory problems and for problems with thinking and making decisions. Treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), a pressurized mask worn during sleep, eliminates obstructive sleep apnea. Now researchers in a new study examined whether using CPAP treatment had an effect on slowing cognitive decline.

A new study from non-profit research organisation RAND Europe examines how waking up at night due to nocturia, a urinary tract condition, can have a detrimental effect on a person's wellbeing and productivity at work, which in turn has an impact on a country's GDP. The study's finding show that frequent visits to the bathroom at night could cost the US economy $44.4 billion a year.

A study of university rugby players has shown that they are more likely to suffer sleep disordered breathing than an average middle-aged man. The study also showed that the athletes who experience this problem are also more likely to have low levels of oxygen in their blood and higher pulse rates during the night, suggesting that athletes with sleep disordered breathing may be at risk of heart abnormalities.

A study led by investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the University of Exeter Medical School has identified 76 new gene regions associated with sleep duration.

It seems that napping may do more than just reboot our energy level and improve our mood. New research being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 68th Annual Scientific Session found that people who took advantage of a midday snooze were more likely to have a noticeable drop in blood pressure compared with those who didn't nap.

People who are witnessed by a bed partner to have stopped breathing during sleep may have higher accumulations of an Alzheimer's disease biomarker called tau in an area of the brain that helps with memory, according to a preliminary study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 71st Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, May 4-10, 2019.

Attempting to get extra sleep on the weekend to make up for lost sleep during the week has no lasting metabolic health benefits and can actually make our ability to regulate blood sugar worse, according to new University of Colorado Boulder research.

Insufficient sleep and untreated sleep disorders put people at increased risk for metabolic problems, including obesity and diabetes. But is extra sleep on the weekends enough to reduce those risks? The short answer, according to new findings reported in Current Biology on Feb. 28, is 'no.'