sleep | Common News Update

Dec292020 by adminNo Comments

Scientists identify brain signals of fading consciousness during anesthesia, sleep

Science

Dec. 29 (UPI) -- What happens inside the human brain when consciousness fades away during anesthesia and normal sleep? Scientists have long estimated that the answer to such a question might provide clues to the neurological origins of consciousness. Until now, researchers had struggled to separate the brain patterns associated specifically with the loss of consciousness and the more generalized neural effects of falling asleep or being put to sleep. Advertisement For the first time, scientists have successfully isolated the specific brain changes related to losing or gaining consciousness. For the study, published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers used positron emission tomography, or PET scans, to monitor the brain activity of healthy volunteers experiencing differen...

Jun52020 by adminNo Comments

Poor sleep may increase risk for heart disease, atherosclerosis, study finds

Health

June 4 (UPI) -- Sleeping poorly on a regular basis may increase a person's risk for heart disease, a study published Thursday by the journal PLOS Biology has found. The connection may be that fragmented sleep increases inflammation in the body, which in turn raises a person's risk for atherosclerosis and stroke, according to researchers from the University of California at Berkeley. Advertisement "Improving sleep may offer a novel way to reduce inflammation and thus reduce the risk of atherosclerosis," study co-author Matthew Walker, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the school, said in a press release. In all, 35 percent of Americans report "poor" or "fair" sleep quality, and one in five say they don't wake up feeling refreshed, according to the Sleep Foundation. Atheroscler...

May82020 by adminNo Comments

Disabled flies sleep more as they learn to adapt

Science

May 8 (UPI) -- Some people need to psyche themselves up to meet challenges head on. For flies, tough times call for a little shuteye. New research suggests flies that are unable to fly sleep more as they learn to adapt to their disability. The research -- published Friday in the journal Science Advances -- could offer insights into the evolutionary origins of sleep, as well as the role sleep plays in human health and development. The sleep patterns of fruit flies are quite similar to those of humans. Young flies sleep more than older flies, with the need for sleep diminishing as a fly ages. Flies that are kept up all night catch up on sleep the next day. Caffeine keeps flies up, while antihistamines make them drowsy. In humans, sleep is important for learning and neural development, and...

Apr272020 by adminNo Comments

Later school openings allow teens to get needed sleep, study finds

Health

April 27 (UPI) -- Schools may be closed across much of the United States because of the COVID-19 pandemic but, when they re-open, a later start to the day could help students get the sleep they need to perform better, according to a new study. The analysis, published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics, found that adolescents and teens at two high schools that delayed the school day by an hour had around 40 minutes more sleep per night and needed less extra sleep on the weekends compared to those at schools that opened earlier in the morning. "Most teens require a lot of extra sleep on weekends to payback the 'sleep debt' they run up during the school week," co-author Dr. Rachel Widome, an associate professor of epidemiology and community health at the University of Minnesota, told UPI. "In our st...

Dec112019 by adminNo Comments

‘I won’t sleep for over 24 hours on election night’

Business

On the day of the election, Jordan Rochester will start work at 06:30 GMT and won't leave his desk until 09:00 on Friday - more than 24 hours later.Mr Rochester is a foreign exchange currency strategist at Nomura. His job is to make sure his clients - big corporations, fund managers and private banks - make money no matter which way the pound swings when the election polls come in.He'll be watching exit polls closely and the results as they come in to give him an idea of what the result will be.The 29-year-old has a good track record. The night before the outcome of the European referendum vote he advised colleagues and clients to stay at their desks, because even though the exit polls showed Remain winning by 52:48 he believed ...