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The patient was a 37-year-old man who had been physically abused as a boy by his schizophrenic mother, often while he lay in bed trying to fall asleep. Nevertheless, he had grown into a reasonably normal, gainfully employed adult, and he thought that the worst was behind him, until one night he awoke to find an intruder rummaging through his dresser drawers. After that, his nightmares began — terrifying, recurrent dreams in which the intruder was a middle-age woman and a knife dangled with Damoclesian contempt from the ceiling fan over his head. “The old fear memories had not gone...

Oral surgery can reduce CPAP needs in patients with sleep apnea (Chicago, IL, October 24, 2007) — A procedure known as uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) may help some patients improve or even eliminate their obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), according to a new study. The research, presented at CHEST 2007, the 73rd annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), says the procedure, which removes excess tissue in the throat or mouth to widen the airway, can reduce the amount of treatment required by patients with OSA. In addition, researchers say UPPP also can eliminate OSA completely in some...

As every sleep researcher knows, the surest way to hear complaints about sleep is to ask the elderly. “Older people complain more about their sleep; they just do,” said Dr. Michael Vitiello, a sleep researcher who is a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington. And for years, sleep scientists thought they knew what was going on: sleep starts to deteriorate in late middle age and steadily erodes from then on. It seemed so obvious that few thought to question the prevailing wisdom. Now, though, new research is leading many to change their minds. To researchers’...

Sleep apnea is commonly diagnosed by way of measuring airflow by nasal pressure, temperature, and/or carbon dioxide, through sensors placed in the nose. However, this method is uncomfortable to some and can potentially disturb sleep. But new research, presented at CHEST 2007, the 73rd annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), shows that remote infrared imaging can monitor airflow and accurately detect abnormalities during sleep, without ever coming in contact with the patient. The study indicates that the new method is ideal because it is portable and can monitor sleep in a natural environment. “Polysomnography...

In a study published in May, researchers at Harvard and McGill Universities reported that participants who slept after playing this game scored significantly higher on a retest than those who did not sleep. While asleep they apparently figured out what they didn’t while awake... “We think what’s happening during sleep is that you open the aperture of memory and are able to see this bigger picture,” said the study’s senior author, Matthew Walker, a neuroscientist who is now at the University of California, Berkeley. He added that many such insights occurred “only when you enter this wonder-world of sleep.” Scientists...

The task looks as simple as a “Sesame Street” exercise. Study pairs of Easter eggs on a computer screen and memorize how the computer has arranged them: the aqua egg over the rainbow one, the paisley over the coral one — and there are just six eggs in all. Most people can study these pairs for about 20 minutes and ace a test on them, even a day later. But they’re much less accurate in choosing between two eggs that have not been directly compared: Aqua trumped rainbow but does that mean it trumps paisley? It’s hazy. It’s hazy, that...

EXPEDITIONARY PATROL BASE - DULAB, Iraq (Oct. 10, 2007) -- “Enjoy it while you can maggots,” rasped the drill instructor into the darkness of the squad bay, “This is the most sleep you will see in the Corps, especially if you are allowed to become grunts.” The Marines with Company A, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 2, now agree with the phantom from boot camp. In the small patrol base which borders on the village of Dulab, near the edge of the Euphrates River, sleep truly is a commodity. The Marines of Company A, known as the...

It's long been reported that a lack of sleep can be hazardous to one's health, but so can too much sleep, UK researchers report. Researchers from the University of Warwick and University College London found that both a lack of sleep and too much sleep can more than double the risk of death in individuals, according to a study of more than 10,308 people. Professor Francesco Cappuccio from the University of Warwick’s Warwick Medical School, speaking Monday to the British Sleep Society, said researchers studied data on the mortality rates and sleep patterns on the same group of civil servants...

Cat in dreamland. Short video Lol

An RAF mechanic who claimed he was sleepwalking when he had sex with a 15-year-old girl was cleared of rape yesterday. Senior Aircraftsman Kenneth Ecott, 26, broke down in tears after a jury took two hours to agree that he was not responsible for his actions. Ecott did not deny having sex with the girl but said he had no memory of it happening. Instead he insisted he had a condition known as 'sexsomnia' in which sufferers carry out indecent acts in their sleep. It was this rare affliction which caused him to climb naked on top of the girl...

PARIS (AP) - The French already enjoy a 35-hour work week and generous vacation. Now the health minister wants to look into whether workers should be allowed to sleep on the job.

This is a curiosity-based vanity. My impression is that the average FReeper works very hard. Probably the most common reason people deprive themselves of sleep is to get work done. I've heard some amazing stories of how little sleep soldiers have gotten in the midst of combat. What's your story? Incidentally, the longest I've ever gone without sleep was about 85 hours, with the help of a ton of coffee, Diet Coke, and Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.

Video: Senator Byrd Snoozing during Speech of Soldiers Dying in Iraq Clicky for YouTube link.Senator Robert Byrd - DEMOCRAT, WVA...

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report. A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students? performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%. The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest. ... The students? various sleep stages were monitored using an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students entered a period of light sleep, Born?s team started to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every second, for about 30 minutes....

ATLANTA, GEORGIA--Going a night without sleep may cause your hippocampus to go on strike. A new study has caught this crucial memory-encoding brain region slacking off in college students the day after they've pulled an all-nighter. The study is one of the first to investigate how sleep deprivation interferes with memory mechanisms in the human brain. Neuroscientist Matthew Walker of Harvard University and his colleagues paid 10 undergraduate students to forgo a night's sleep. The next day, the students viewed a series of 30 words, and two days later--after having two nights to catch up on their sleep--the students returned...

From the day they brought her home, the D'Avellas' black-and-white mutt loathed ringing phones. At the first trill, Jay Dee would bolt from the room and howl until someone picked up. But within a few weeks, the D'Avellas began missing calls: When the phone rang, their friends later told them, someone would pick up and then the line would go dead. One evening, Aida D'Avella solved the mystery. Sitting in the family room of her Newark, N.J., home, Ms. D'Avella got up as the phone rang, but the dog beat her to it. Jay Dee ran straight to the ringing...

Flies explain mystery of sleep By Roger Highfield, Science Editor (Filed: 22/09/2006) The more we gossip, socialise and learn, the more we need to nap, scientists report today in a study that sheds new light on the mystery of sleep. Many theories have been put forward over the years to explain why we need so much sleep. Today, scientists put forward new evidence that our bodies require sleep so our brain can process what we have learned during the day. The insight is reported today in the journal Science by Dr Indrani Ganguly-Fitzgerald of the Neurosciences Institute, San Diego, California,...

SNORING is ruining the sex lives of one in four couples, a survey says. Twenty-five per cent sleep separately to avoid the racket, while half admit it affects their relationship. Seven in ten men confess to snoring, according to the Great British Snoring Survey. Four out of ten women admit they have a problem. Relationship expert Denise Knowles, from Relate, said: “People deprived of sleep suffer physically and emotionally. “Sex is the last thing you want when you’re shattered.” Marianne Davey of the British Snoring and Sleep Apnoea Association said: “Snoring can put a big strain on relationships. We get...

LOS ANGELES -- If you know nothing about Metallica, "Enter Sandman" does sound like it could be the title of a lullaby. A company called Baby Rock Records has created lullaby versions of songs by Metallica, Coldplay and Radiohead. Executive producer Valerie Aiello said her company did the lullaby tributes because they love the music of all those artists. She said they tested the CDs on babies they knew and she can vouch that one crying baby fell asleep while listening to the Coldplay disc. The Metallica, Coldplay and Radiohead versions come out Tuesday. Future editions will feature lullaby versions...

Sleep with Neanderthals? Apparently we (homo Sapiens) did By Faye Flam The Philadelphia Inquirer Though it's been 150 years since mysteriously humanlike bones first turned up in Germany's Neander Valley, the find continues to shake our collective sense of human identity. Neanderthals are humanity's closest relatives, with brains at least as big as ours, and yet we don't know whether we should include them as members of our own species. No longer does science consider them our direct ancestors but some suspect Neanderthals and modern homo Sapiens interbred during the 20,000 some-odd years we co-existed in Europe. The archaeological record...