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CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is offering parents a cure for children who don't want to go to sleep. Have them watch his televised speeches. In a television appearance on Thursday to extol the virtues of a portable computer his socialist government plans to introduce at public schools, Chavez said youngsters had stopped him in the street to tell him they saw him on television. "It seems that there are mothers here who, instead of putting their kids to sleep with cartoons, put them to sleep with Chavez," he said. "And the child dozes off and dozes off,...

EATING MELATONIN-RICH CHERRIES ARE ‘‘NATURAL” WAY TO RESET YOUR BODY CLOCK WHEN CROSSING TIME ZONES Research Reveals that Cherries Boost Your Body’s Melatonin Levels to Help Prevent Jet Lag After Long International Flights It takes mere seconds to reset our watch to a different time zone, but our body’s internal time clocks often take longer to sync up in our new locale. Experienced travelers often stash a bottle of melatonin supplements in their carryon bag to help adjust, but experts say there may be a more natural and tasty way to get melatonin: cherries. Recent studies have revealed that cherries...

An online insomnia intervention based on established face-to-face cognitive behavioral therapy techniques appears to improve patients' sleep, according to a new report. About one-third of adults report symptoms of insomnia and approximately 10 percent meet diagnostic criteria for an insomnia disorder, according to background information in the article. The condition decreases quality of life, impairs daytime functioning, has personal and public health consequences and results in an estimated $41 billion in reduced productivity every year. Cognitive behavioral therapy—a psychological treatment focusing on the behaviors and dysfunctional thoughts that contribute to sleep problems—is one of the most effective treatments for insomnia....

It was near midnight Tuesday when the woman was shocked awake in bed by the howling scream of her pet cat from under the bed. Through glazed, half-open eyes, Jane Chanteau, a 73-year-old grandmother, saw a giant animal next to her bed. "I was half asleep and first I though it was a big dog, trying to get under the bed, and I whacked him on the rear end, like, 'You're not getting my baby,' " Chanteau said. The animal leaped onto a box in the corner of the room. Chanteau realized she'd just swatted a 4-foot mountain lion that...

ScienceDaily (Jun. 11, 2008) — A cognitive behavioral intervention for insomnia delivered via the Internet can significantly improve insomnia in adults, according to a research abstract that will be presented on June 11 at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS). The study, authored by Lee Ritterband, PhD, of the University of Virginia, focused on 44 participants (mostly female) with an average age of 45 years. The participants were randomly selected to either the cognitive behavioral intervention for insomnia via the Internet or a wait list control. Measures of sleep, mood, cost, and cognitive...

Sunday is 'worst for a night's sleep' By Bonnie Malkin Last Updated: 1:02am GMT 21/01/2008 It may explain that Monday morning feeling - research has found that Sunday is the most sleepless night of the week. Nearly 60 per cent of employees have their worst night's sleep of the week on Sundays, a survey claims, with restless nights forcing one in four to call in sick on a Monday. Disrupted sleep has also been blamed for a lack of concentration at work (46 per cent) on Mondays, increased irritability towards bosses (30 per cent) and the odd impromptu nap at...

American Heart Association meeting report ORLANDO, Nov. 7 — A cholesterol-lowering drug appears to disrupt sleep patterns of some patients, researchers reported at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2007. “The findings are significant because sleep problems can affect quality of life and may have adverse health consequences, such as promoting weight gain and insulin resistance,” said Beatrice Golomb, M.D., lead author of the study and an associate professor of medicine and family and preventive medicine at the University of California at San Diego School of Medicine. In the largest study of its kind, researchers compared two types of cholesterol-lowering...

Better sleep doesn’t have to come in a pill. For people with chronic insomnia, studies show that simple behavioral and psychological treatments work just as well, and sometimes better, than popular medications, according to a report in The Journal of Family Practice. The medical journal Sleep last year reported on five high-quality trials that showed cognitive behavioral therapy helped people suffering from insomnia fall asleep sooner and stay asleep longer. Another American Journal of Psychiatry analysis of 21 studies showed that behavioral treatment helped people fall asleep nearly nine minutes sooner than sleep drugs. In other measures, sleep therapy worked...

For anyone who struggles to get a good night's rest, it could be a dream come true. Scientists have invented a technique which they say could help trigger deep sleep in the most chronic insomniac. Using medical equipment, they stimulated the brain with harmless magnetic pulses. These penetrate the nerves that control a type of deep sleep called "slow-wave activity" and made their brains produce these waves. More follows... Researchers believe the same principles could be used to create a machine which can electronically stimulate a deep-sleep power nap. This mimics the restorative benefits of eight hours of rest. Professor...

Close window Published online: 28 January 2007; | doi:10.1038/news070122-13 One sleep disorder throws light on anotherTreatment based on narcolepsy could promote sleep in insomniacs.Heidi Ledford Drug companies compete hotly to make the next big sleeping pill. Punchstock By learning from patients who nod off unexpectedly during the day, researchers have pinpointed a chemical that could help people who can't sleep at night. One out of every 10 people in the United States suffers from chronic insomnia, making for a big sleeping-pill market. The most popular pills work by strengthening the effects of a brain chemical that slows the nervous...

For some, the Internet it has become an addiction, adversely affecting their lives and their family's lives. While not yet defined as a true addiction, many people are suffering the consequences of obsession with the online world, warns Dr. Diane M. Wieland, who treats patients with computer addiction in her practice in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. For some people, the Internet may promote addictive behaviors and pseudo-intimate interpersonal relationships, reports Wieland in the journal, Perspectives in Psychiatric Care. "Such cyberspace contacts may result in cyber disorders such as virtual relationships that evolve into online marital infidelity (cybersex) or online sexually compulsive behaviors,"...

Blessed Creator, Thou hast promised thy beloved sleep; Give me restoring rest needful for tomorrow’s toil; If dreams be mine, let them not be tinged with evil. Let thy Spirit make my time of repose a blessed temple of his holy presence. May my frequent lying down make me familiar with death, the bed I approach remind me of the grave, the eyes I now close picture to me their final closing. Keep me always ready, waiting for admittance to thy presence. Weaken my attachment to earthly things. May I hold life loosely in my hand, knowing that I receive...

Americans' use of sleeping pills is skyrocketing, up nearly 60 percent since 2000, with about 42 million prescriptions filled last year. Experts surmise that "modern lifestyles" and the accompanying stress of too much to do in too little time are largely responsible for the growing need for the drugs. That may be true. But I see an altogether different explanation for the flagrant use of sleeping pills. In the last decade, there has been a sea change in the kinds of drugs available to induce sleep, and these drugs have been widely promoted in print and on television. You could...

Faith Sullivan of Minneapolis was having a really hard time getting a good night's sleep. For years, she had slept about seven hours a night. Then, in her late 50's, something changed. After going to bed at 10 or 11 p.m., she would wake up around 3 a.m., unable to fall back to sleep. No, neither depression nor hot flashes were disrupting her night's rest. It was caffeine. She never drank caffeinated coffee in the evening, but she often had it as a midafternoon pick-me-up. Though she found it hard to believe that coffee at 4 p.m. could disturb her...

You would think the country is in the grip of an insomnia epidemic given the rising popularity of sleep drugs. Over the last five years, the use of hypnotics has increased by an astonishing 60 percent, according to IMS Health, a research company. Is the state of sleep in America really that bad? Disturbed sleep has to be one of the most common complaints in medicine. Not only patients but the general public seems to have a cherished notion of what constitutes a normal night's sleep: seven to eight blissful hours of uninterrupted slumber. Many patients tell me they have...

With a tendency to stare zombie-like and run into stationary objects, a new species of impaired motorist is hitting the roads: the Ambien driver. Ambien, the nation's best-selling prescription sleeping pill, is showing up with regularity as a factor in traffic arrests, sometimes involving drivers who later say they were sleep-driving and have no memory of taking the wheel after taking the drug. In some state toxicology laboratories Ambien makes the top 10 list of drugs found in impaired drivers. Wisconsin officials identified Ambien in the bloodstreams of 187 arrested drivers from 1999 to 2004. And as a more people...

MATTHEWS, N.C. -- Two twin girls were stabbed to death Friday at their home on Creek Pointe Drive, police said. The father of the 5-year-olds, David Lauren Crespi, [has been charged with murdering them. Medic reported that Crespi, 45, called 911 at 12:45 p.m., saying he fatally stabbed his daughters. He also threatened to kill himself, Medic said. When police arrived at the scene, Crespi was waiting for them outside the home. The children were inside, and there was nothing paramedics could do to save them. Officials couldn’t come up with an immediate explanation. “We’re not anywhere where we can...

Research has not found a cure-all for everyone While many of her constituents slept soundly, former Utah Gov. Olene Walker often would wander the governor's mansion in the middle of the night, responding to e-mails, reading or watching TV.    Walker suffers from insomnia, which afflicts about 35 million Americans, according to the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research.    "I've kind of reached a formula," said Walker, who is now in New York City representing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an ambassador to other countries. "If after an hour of sleeplessness you can't fall asleep, get...

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent - Two men in St. Vincent walked for six days without sleep in a bid to set a world record for the longest nonstop hike, but Guinness World Records said Tuesday it won't recognize the feat. Horns blared as thousands greeted Earl Daniel and Joel Butcher when they entered Heritage Square in the capital Monday at the end of a walk that lasted 144 hours and seven minutes. They began on March 8. It was not immediately clear how many miles they walked. Monday was National Heroes Day in this former British colony of 117,000 residents and...

PATRICIA PRATTIS JENNINGS, 63, FIRST TOOK PROVIGIL during a 2003 trip to Europe. Her doctor thought the drug—meant to help users suffering from a lack of sleep stay awake without jittery side effects—might counteract the jet lag that had plagued her throughout four globe-hopping decades as a pianist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Her first morning in Switzerland, she popped half a pill. Her usual fatigue disappeared almost instantly. "I felt great all day and for a number of days after that," she says. The drug worked so well that she gave her husband some when he complained of feeling...