Sleep Disorders

Those in the medical field, as well as anybody who has ever been prescribed an antidepressant, are well aware that finding the medication that is going to work best for a particular patient is a hit-or-miss process that can take several months to complete. Every patient is different and will have a different response to a specific medication or class of medication, and because each requires a full four to six weeks in order to become fully incorporated and effective in the system, the process is time consuming and frustrating. Now a physician has created a method that he believes is predictive of whether the most popular class of antidepressants will work on a specific patient, and his methodology revolves around the way that the patient sleeps. Continue reading →

Research has shown that sleep deprivation is something that we generally cannot recognize in ourselves. Our conscious brains think that we are managing just fine when we are actually cognitively and physically impaired, and that means that we are posing a risk to ourselves and those around us when we get behind the wheel or operate heavy machinery, and are putting ourselves out into the world when we are more impaired than if we were legally drunk. Continue reading →

There has been a great deal of attention paid recently to the issue of teen sleep deprivation. The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued a statement urging schools to move their start time to a later point in the morning to allow for more sleep, and experts have pointed to everything from biological factors to increasing use of technology for the problem. But a new study has revealed that the blame for the problem may lie elsewhere. The research, which was published in this month’s issue of the journal Pediatrics, found that the sleep deprivation teens are experiencing is part of a trend that has developed over the past twenty years rather than a new development. Continue reading →

Let this be a wake-up call for those who doubt the doctors who keep telling us that we really need to get seven to nine hours of sleep per night: sleep deprivation does very real, very significant damage to the human body and our overall sense of well-being. The more resources that science invests in studying the impact of sleeplessness on the human body, the longer the list of body systems, organs and measures of wellness that are impacted grows. Here is a quick rundown of what is known so far, though as more research is done it is expected that the list will only grow longer. Continue reading →

Sleep scientists from Washington State University are calling attention to a rare and little-understood sleep disorder with a particularly frightening name. Exploding head syndrome sounds a lot worse than it is. Though the experience is certainly unpleasant for those who are experiencing it, at least it is not quite as bad as the visual image that the condition evokes. Exploding head syndrome is characterized by experiencing extremely loud and sudden noises during the onset of sleep.

It is not known how many people actually experience this sleep disorder, as there is not a great deal of research on the topic. The study gathered and reviewed all of the existing literature on the topic in order to raise awareness of the phenomenon. Their research yielded a clearer picture of exactly what those who suffer from the condition experience. Symptoms include very loud and disruptive noises being heard. Patients have described the sounds as being similar to the sound of firecrackers going off, slamming doors, explosions, and even gunshots. They may experience the sounds in either one ear or both ear and the sounds are sometimes accompanied by bright flashes of light. Continue reading →