News by Subject Medicine & Health

A new study conducted among more than 177,000 students suggests that insufficient sleep duration is associated with an unhealthy lifestyle profile among children and adolescents.

Sleep disturbances have a strong negative impact on the immune system of people who have recently lost a spouse, reports a new study. The overactivated immune system of the bereaved triggered by sleep disturbances -- and resulting chronic inflammation -- may make them more susceptible to heart disease or cancer. Grieving spouses have a higher risk of developing heart disease or dying within a year of their loved one's death

Like humans, fruit flies are active during the day, sleep at night and have similar sleep characteristics. A study has discovered a new gene and uncovered a mechanism that modulates sleep by controlling the movement of taurine -- a common ingredient found in many energy drinks like Red Bull™ -- into neuron cells of the fly brain. Taurine also is abundant in the human brain and is consistently elevated in blood and urine of sleep-deprived people.

Scientists have developed a completely automated technique for real-time detection of sleep/wake states in freely moving mice, according to a study by Karim Benchenane, Sophie Bagur and colleagues at the National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris, publishing on November 8 in the open-access journal, PLOS Biology.

Experimenting with mice, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have added to evidence that a hormone best known for helping regulate hunger and body weight might also ease breathing problems experienced during sleep more effectively when given through the nose.

Adults who sleep just six hours per night -- as opposed to eight -- may have a higher chance of being dehydrated, according to a study by Penn State.

Women who are 'larks', functioning better at the beginning of the day than the end of the day, have a lower of risk breast cancer, according to new research presented at the 2018 NCRI Cancer Conference on Tuesday. The study looked at several hundred thousand women.

Sleep disruptions are associated with many brain disorders, including anxiety, dementias, and traumatic brain injury. While these disruptions are sometimes viewed as a side effect of brain disorders, new findings presented today suggest that aberrant sleep-wake cycles can also drive brain pathology. The studies were presented at Neuroscience 2018, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world's largest source of emerging news about brain science and health.