Better Sleep Across Both Weekdays and Weekends is Associated with Improved Academic Success - AASM. Better Sleep Across Both Weekdays and Weekends is Associated with Improved Academic Success American Academy of Sleep MedicineTuesday, June 2, 2009 EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: June 10, 2009, at 12:01 a.m. Kelly Wagner (708) 492-0930, ext. 9331 WESTCHESTER, Ill. Results indicate that higher math scores were related to greater sleep quality, less awakenings and increased sleep efficiency. According to principal investigator Jennifer C. “Sleep deficits cause problems for adolescents, but students differ in their personal resources and in how chaotic their sleep-wake schedules are,” said Cousins. The study involved data from 56 adolescents (34 female) between the ages of 14 and 18 years who had complaints of daytime sleepiness and or insufficient sleep at night.
Higher math scores were related to less night awakenings, less time spent in bed, higher sleep efficiency and great sleep quality; there was also a trend for decreased sleep onset latency (SOL). Presentation Date: Wednesday, June 10. Musicians & the Risk for Obstructive Sleep Apnea. A study (#0715) being presented later this morning as a poster examines the risk of obstructive sleep apnea in 847 professional musicians. Results show that musicians who played a high-resistance wind instrument had a significantly lower risk for OSA, while playing a high-resistance brass instrument such as the trumpet or horn produced no difference in OSA risk. Specifically, musicians who played double-reed woodwind instruments such as the oboe or the bassoon had the lowest risk for OSA, suggesting that these instruments promote “naturalistic” respiratory muscle training.
Overall, 29.2 percent of musicians had a high risk for OSA. Risk also was related to the number of hours spent practicing per week. In January the Sleep Education Blog reported on the theory that playing a wind instrument makes the muscles in the upper airway stronger, thus preventing soft tissue in the throat from collapsing and blocking the airway during sleep. Increased Brain Activation Helps Insomniacs Maintain Daytime Performance. Child Sleep Patterns around the World. A study (ID# 0185) being presented as an oral presentation this morning at SLEEP 2008 compares the sleep patterns of young children from 12 different countries.
Results are based on questionnaires completed by the parents of 21,273 infants and toddlers from zero to 36 months of age. The study indicates that young children in predominately Caucasian countries have earlier bedtimes and obtain more overall sleep than young children in predominately Asian countries. No differences were found in night wakings or napping behaviors. Children in New Zealand went to bed the earliest with an average bedtime of 7:16 p.m. Children in Hong Kong went to bed the latest with an average bedtime of 10:10 p.m. Japanese children had the lowest total sleep time (i.e., nightly sleep plus daytime naps) of 11.6 hours of sleep per day. Seventy-six percent of Chinese parents perceived that their child has a small or severe sleep problem.
Journal Sleep. Does Insomnia Shrink Your Brain? - Losing sleep may actually shrink some areas of your brain. - Researchers are unsure which comes first: gray matter loss or sleeplessness. - The findings could lead to new treatment plans for insomnia. Chronic insomniacs losing out on sleep may also be missing brain matter. For the first time, brain imaging has linked chronic insomnia to lower gray matter density in areas that regulate the brain's ability to make decisions and to rest. "The findings predict that chronic insomnia sufferers may have compromised capacities to evaluate the affective value of stimuli," said Ellemarijie Altena, lead author of the study from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience. The study, published in Biological Psychiatry, compared the white and gray matter volumes of 24 older, chronic insomnia patients to 13 normal sleepers, and controlled for physical and psychiatric disorders that could also alter brain densities.
Cristen Conger is a writer for HowStuffWorks.com. The Effect of Technology on Sleep. Research abstracts being presented at SLEEP 2009 are examining how technology affects our sleep. One study (#1260) being presented later this morning as a poster shows that television viewing is by far the dominant pre-sleep activity, accounting for almost 50 percent of pre-bed time. The authors also published results of their study in the June 1 issue of the journal SLEEP. Another study (#1271) being presented later this morning as a poster reports that playing video games and computer games can affect sleep. College students who are “excessive” gamers had significantly poorer sleep hygiene and slept less on weekdays than “casual” gamers. A study (# 0200) being presented this afternoon as an oral presentation shows that many teens stay up too late at night using various technological devices such as a TV, computer, cell phone and MP3 player.
Sleep Education Blog.