July 9, 2020

As REM Sleep Declines, Life Span Suffers

TUESDAY, July 7, 2020 -- Deep sleep is essential for good health, and too little of it may shorten your life, a new study suggests.

REM (rapid eye movement) sleep is when dreams occur and the body repairs itself from the ravages of the day. For every 5% reduction in REM sleep, mortality rates increase 13% to 17% among older and middle-aged adults, researchers report.

June 30, 2020

Sleeping In on Weekends Won't Erase Your 'Sleep Debt'

TUESDAY, June 30, 2020 -- For those who try to catch up on lost sleep during the weekend, French researchers have some bad news: Once Saturday and Sunday have come and gone, many will find they're still seriously short on sleep.

The finding centered on adults who regularly get only six hours of sleep or less on weekdays. That's far less than the seven to eight hours per night that most people need, said study author Dr. Damien Leger. He is chief of the Hotel Dieu Center of Sleep and Vigilance at the Public Assistance Hospital of Paris.

June 29, 2020

Yes, Bad Sleep Does Make People Grumpy

MONDAY, June 22, 2020 -- Not getting enough sleep can kill your mood the morning after, Norwegian researchers report.

"Not in the sense that we have more negative feelings, like being down or depressed," said lead author Ingvild Saksvik-Lehouillier of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. "But participants in our study experienced a flattening of emotions when they slept less than normal. They felt less joy, enthusiasm, attention and fulfillment."

June 19, 2020

Pandemic 'Silver Lining:' Better Sleep for Some

WEDNESDAY, June 17, 2020 -- The COVID-19 pandemic may be stressing out most people, but it has had a surprising upside for college students: They're sleeping better.

That's the upshot of a new study that investigated sleep habits of 139 college students before and after Colorado enacted a stay-at-home order to prevent spread of the new coronavirus.

June 15, 2020

Are Hardened Arteries a Risk Factor for Poor Slumber?

FRIDAY, June 12, 2020 -- If you can't sleep well at night, the problem may be rooted in hardened arteries, a new study suggests.

"We've discovered that fragmented sleep is associated with a unique pathway -- chronic circulating inflammation throughout the bloodstream -- which, in turn, is linked to higher amounts of plaques in coronary arteries," said researcher Matthew Walker. He's a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley.

June 9, 2020

How to Get Better Sleep While Working at Home

THURSDAY, June 4, 2020 -- For many, work-at-home orders aimed at fighting the COVID-19 pandemic have had an unintended side effect: sleep loss.

"We've seen a significant increase in reports of stress-related insomnia in recent months," said Julio Fernandez-Mendoza of the Penn State Health Sleep Research and Treatment Center in Hummelstown, Penn.