News & Noteworthy http://sleepspecialist.co.uk Sleep News daily 1 2011-01-03T16:41:57Z Sleep duration and body mass index in twins: a gene-environment interaction. http://sleepspecialist.co.uk/news/sleep-duration-and-body-mass-index-in-twins-a-gene-environment-interaction Twin study(1,088 pairs, 604 monozygotic, 484 dizygotic) indicates that individuals genetically susceptible to obesity are more likely to become obese if they are short sleepers (<7 hours). Longer, but genetically susceptible, were less likely to put on weight. "29% and 33% of the sleep-wake cycle, or 7 to 7.9 hr under" controlled conditions.

"The heritability of sleep duration is between 31% and 55%,"

 

Pubmed link

 

]]> No publisher admin 2012-05-02T07:50:00Z News Item Partial Sleep Deprivation Reduces Phase Advances to Light in Humans http://sleepspecialist.co.uk/shift-work/partial-sleep-deprivation-reduces-phase-advances-to-light-in-humans paper link

[note]

]]> No publisher admin 2012-04-29T13:32:03Z News Item An investigation of the relationship between subjective sleep quality, loneliness and mood in an Australian sample: Can daily routine explain the links? http://sleepspecialist.co.uk/news/an-investigation-of-the-relationship-between-subjective-sleep-quality-loneliness-and-mood-in-an-australian-sample-can-daily-routine-explain-the-links "This study provides an important independent replication of the association between poor sleep and loneliness. However, the mechanism underlying this link remains unclear. A theoretically plausible mechanism for this link, lifestyle regularity, does not explain the relationship between loneliness and poor sleep. The nexus between loneliness and poor sleep is unlikely to be broken by altering the social rhythm of patients who present with poor sleep and loneliness." Simon Squire Smith,  Nahum Kozak,  Karen Anne Sullivan

doi:10.1177/0020764010387551

Int J Soc Psychiatry

March 2012 vol. 58 no. 2 166-171

]]> No publisher admin 2012-04-29T13:23:26Z News Item REM Sleep Instability – A New Pathway for Insomnia? http://sleepspecialist.co.uk/news/rem-sleep-instability-2013-a-new-pathway-for-insomnia-2 Objective studies consistently show that insomniacs sleep more than they perceive. Prof Riemann & collaborators show however that there is a difference between insomniacs and good sleepers in the time spent awake and the number of arousals in REM sleep. Authors D. Riemann, K. Spiegelhalder, C. Nissen, V. Hirscher, C. Baglioni, B. Feige
Affiliation Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Freiburg University Medical Center, Freiburg, Germany

DOI http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1055/s-0031-1299721 Pharmacopsychiatry 2012; 45: 1–10

]]> No publisher admin 2012-04-09T12:04:30Z News Item Salubrinal, an endoplasmic reticulum stress blocker, modulates sleep homeostasis and activation of sleep- and wake-regulatory neurones. (research note) http://sleepspecialist.co.uk/notes/salubrinal-an-endoplasmic-reticulum-stress-blocker-modulates-sleep-homeostasis-and-activation-of-sleep-and-wake-regulatory-neurons Methippara, M Mitrani, B Schrader, FX Szymusiak, R McGinty, D

Department of Psychology, UCLA, 405 Hilgard, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress has been associated with the regulation of sleep and wake. We have previously shown that i.c.v. administration of a specific ER stress modulator, Salubrinal (SALUB), which inhibits global protein translation by blocking the dephosphorylation of eukaryotic initiation factor 2alpha (p-eIF2alpha), increased non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. Here we report on the relationship between ER stress response and sleep homeostasis by measuring the amount and intensity of homeostatic recovery sleep in response to the i.c.v. administration of SALUB in adult freely behaving rats. We have also tested the hypothesis that SALUB induces sleep by activating sleep-promoting neurons and inhibiting wake-promoting neurons in the basal forebrain (BF) and hypothalamus by quantifying the effects of SALUB treatment on c-Fos expression in those neuronal groups. The present study found that i.c.v. administration of SALUB significantly modified the homeostatic sleep response. SALUB administered during sleep deprivation increased sleep intensity, indicated by slow-wave activity (SWA), during recovery sleep, whereas its administration during recovery sleep increased the amount of recovery sleep. We also found that SALUB induced c-Fos activation of GABAergic neurons in the sleep-promoting rostral median preoptic nucleus while simultaneously reducing c-Fos activation of wake-promoting lateral hypothalamic orexin-expressing neurons and magnocellular BF cholinergic neurons. The current findings suggest that ER stress pathway plays a role in the homeostatic control of NREM sleep in response to sleep deprivation and provides a mechanistic explanation for the sleep modulation by molecules signaling the need for brain protein synthesis.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=22387272

]]> No publisher admin 2012-03-23T13:25:00Z News Item Shift work and chronic disease: the epidemiological evidence. http://sleepspecialist.co.uk/shift-work/shift-work-and-chronic-disease-the-epidemiological-evidence [Note] Occup Med (Lond). 2011 Mar;61(2):78-89. DOI: 10.1093/occmed/kqr001

Shift work and chronic disease: the epidemiological evidence. Wang XS, Armstrong ME, Cairns BJ, Key TJ, Travis RC. Cancer Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.

Literature review up to Dec 2009.

]]> No publisher admin 2012-03-16T09:45:00Z News Item Hypnotics' association with mortality or cancer: a matched cohort study. http://sleepspecialist.co.uk/news/hypnotics-association-with-mortality-or-cancer-a-matched-cohort-study Kripke has long noted the correlation between short and long sleep and mortality, AND the association between sleeping pill usage and mortality. The newest study shows how few sleeping pills/year are necessary for this association to become significant. The studies do not show causality - it may be the case that for some people impaired sleep is the first sign of things going wrong with the body ...  

Pubmed ref http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22371848

...

]]> No publisher admin 2012-03-14T10:08:21Z News Item Sleep education for paradoxical insomnia. http://sleepspecialist.co.uk/news/sleep-education-for-paradoxical-insomnia Sleep education holds promise for some paradoxical insomnia patients. Behav Sleep Med. 2011 Sep 30;9(4):266-72. doi: 10.1080/15402002.2011.607022.

]]> No publisher admin 2012-03-11T12:48:10Z News Item The role of adenosine in the regulation of sleep. (note) http://sleepspecialist.co.uk/notes/the-role-of-adenosine-in-the-regulation-of-sleep Huang ZL, Urade Y, Hayaishi O. Curr Top Med Chem. 2011;11(8):1047-57.

]]> No publisher admin 2012-03-08T09:20:00Z News Item ABCC9 gene affects sleep duration http://sleepspecialist.co.uk/news/abcc9-gene-affects-sleep-duration Following the observation that long or short sleep duration is associated with metabolic syndrome, and that sleep duration is affected by season, 'biological clock type' (chronotype (lark/owl)) and human familial disorders led to a German group to do a genetics study in 7 European populations. They found a variant in the ABCC9 gene affected 5% of the variation in sleep duration. The ABCC9 gene encodes the SUR2 protein which is involved in part of the adenosine triphosphate sensing mechanisms in the cell membrane  which appear to be sensors of cell energy metabolism.  This protein is also involved in heart disease, diabetes and is associated with body mass index and high blood pressure.

A K(ATP) channel gene effect on sleep duration: from genome-wide association studies to function in Drosophila.

Allebrandt KV, Amin N, Müller-Myhsok B, Esko T, Teder-Laving M, Azevedo RV, Hayward C, van Mill J, Vogelzangs N, Green EW, Melville SA, Lichtner P, Wichmann HE, Oostra BA, Janssens AC, Campbell H, Wilson JF, Hicks AA, Pramstaller PP, Dogas Z, Rudan I, Merrow M, Penninx B, Kyriacou CP, Metspalu A, van Duijn CM, Meitinger T, Roenneberg T.

Mol Psychiatry. 2011 Nov 22. doi: 10.1038/mp.2011.142. [Epub ahead of print]

PMID:
22105623
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

]]> No publisher admin 2012-01-28T17:11:31Z News Item Are you upset? http://sleepspecialist.co.uk/news/miscellaneous/are-you-upset Ami Tsuchida and Lesley K. Fellows 
Are You Upset? Distinct Roles for Orbitofrontal and Lateral Prefrontal Cortex in Detecting and Distinguishing Facial Expressions of Emotion
Cereb Cortex 2012 : bhr370v1-bhr370.

Damage to ventromedial PFC impaired the detection of subtle facial expressions of emotion. Such patients had difficulty distinguishing emotional from neutral expressions. In contrast, patients with left ventrolateral PFC were able to detect the presence of emotional signals but had difficulty discriminating between specific emotions. These effects were regionally specific: Dorsomedial prefrontal damage had no effect on either aspect of emotion recognition.

]]> No publisher admin 2012-01-09T10:55:00Z News Item Grief associated with sleep problems http://sleepspecialist.co.uk/news/grief-associated-with-sleep-problems Over 20% of soldiers reported difficulty coping with grief. he most frequent physical health symptoms reported were: sleep problems (32.8%), musculoskeletal pain (32.7%), fatigue (32.3%), and back pain (28.1%). Difficulty coping with grief over the death of someone close affected 21.3%. J Affect Disord. 2011 Dec 8. [Publisher]  DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2011.10.048
Grief and physical health outcomes in U.S. soldiers returning from combat.
Toblin RL, Riviere LA, Thomas JL, Adler AB, Kok BC, Hoge CW.
Military Psychiatry Branch, Center for Military Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 503 Robert Grant Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA.

]]> No publisher admin 2011-12-28T17:49:26Z News Item Loneliness Is Associated with Sleep Fragmentation in a Communal Society http://sleepspecialist.co.uk/news/loneliness-is-associated-with-sleep-fragmentation-in-a-communal-society Loneliness was a significant predictor of sleep fragmentation. Humans’ social nature may partly be manifest through our depen- dence on feeling secure in our social environment to sleep well. Kurina LM; Knutson KL; Hawkley LC; Cacioppo JT; Lauderdale DS; Ober C. Loneliness is associated with sleep fragmentation in a com- munal society. SLEEP 2011;34(11):1519-1526.

"Perceived isolation, or loneliness, has been associated with increased blood pressure, increased risk of heart disease in women, and increased risks of depression, cognitive decline, and mortality". This group hypothesised that sleep, as a key restorative behavior, could be compromised by feelings of loneliness. They noted that compromised sleep—including short duration and poor quality sleep—had been linked with various health outcomes, including poorer metabolic function, increased cardiovascular risk, poorer self-rated health, and cognitive and behavioral impairments.

Actigraphic recordings provided evidence that those individuals who perceived themselves as less connected to others had more fragmented sleep.

]]> No publisher admin 2011-11-10T08:35:00Z News Item Sleep deprivation alters valuation signals in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. http://sleepspecialist.co.uk/news/sleep-deprivation-alters-valuation-signals-in-the-ventromedial-prefrontal-cortex Researchers using fMRI found that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex was affected by sleep deprivation and impacted on the valuation of monetary and social rewards  

Libedinsky, C, DV Smith, CS Teng, P Namburi, VW Chen, SA Huettel, & MW Chee, ‘Sleep deprivation alters valuation signals in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex.’, Front Behav Neurosci vol. 5, 2011, pp. 70.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22028686?dopt=Citation

]]> No publisher admin 2011-10-27T10:40:58Z News Item No pain, no gain - sleep restriction for insomnia http://sleepspecialist.co.uk/news/no-pain-no-gain-sleep-restriction-for-insomnia A study exploring the patient side of sleep restriction therapy (essentially restricting the time in bed to the time that you can sleep as assessed by a sleep diary). The participants had suffered from insomnia for an average of 17 years. The study found that the insomniacs improved long-term, though as the title suggests, those suffering from most side-effects fatigue/exhaustion’ (100%), ‘extreme sleepiness’ (94%), ‘reduced motivation/energy’ (89%) and ‘headache/migraine’ (72%) in general improved the most. Some data

Before After 1 month After 3 months

Time to fall asleep 40        20                  21                   minutes

Time awake 72        29                  26                   minutes

No pain, no gain: An exploratory within-subjects mixed-methods evaluation of the patient experience of sleep restriction therapy (SRT) for insomnia
Simon D. Kyle, Kevin Morgan, Kai Spiegelhalder, Colin A. Espie

Sleep medicine 1 September 2011 (volume 12 issue 8 Pages 735-747 DOI: 10.1016/j.sleep.2011.03.016)

]]> No publisher admin 2011-09-21T10:00:33Z News Item