Make Sure Happy Holidays Include Healthy Sleep

The holiday season means shopping marathons, gift giving, reunions, holiday parties... and sleep deprivation. Sleep always suffers during the holidays. There is so much to do that it's easy to say "Oh, I'll catch up on sleep later." But there can be a high price to pay.

There are so many car wrecks during the holidays, and alcohol alone is not always the problem. Sleep deprivation and alcohol make a lethal mix. Having a designated driver who doesn't drink is the most important safety measure. If you drink, moderation is always best year round, but it is especially important during the holidays when people go to so many parties and everybody is exhausted. 

Children Who Snore Need to Be Evaluated for Sleep Apnea

Based on a review of over 3,000 research studies, the American Academy of Pediatrics recently published new guidelines recommending that children should be screened for snoring every time they visit their pediatrician.

This is a groundbreaking step for pediatric sleep medicine. It's a big change. It's important, because it tells pediatricians that sleep disorders in children are serious. It tells parents that snoring isn't just a cute thing where a child is doing something adults do.

Working Sleepy Means Working Slow

By Anuj Chandra, M.D., D.ABSM

When you work late at night, you probably know you're feeling more and more tired. But researchers have found that your actions may get slower and slower, even if you don't realize what's happening.

Researchers in Brigham and Women's  Hospital in Boston have found that lack of sleep can affect how you perform certain tasks, regardless of how tired you think you are. The findings were published last week in the online Journal of Vision.

Narcolopesy Drug is Being Abused

By Anuj Chandra, M.D., D.ABSM

Perhaps it is inevitable in this day and time that some people will find a way to abuse any prescription drug. But it feels more like a personal affront when it's a drug whose proper use is so effective against certain sleep disorders.

Provigil is the trade name for modafinil, a stimulant that was approved by the FDA in 1998 for the treatment of narcolepsy and some other sleep disorders that compromise daytime alertness. It is a carefully regulated drug because it's a stimulant. But a small number of people are obtaining it over the Internet and using is for alertness and cognitive enhancement.

Researchers Have Found Chemical Controllers of Sleep Paralysis

By Anuj Chandra, M.D., D.ABSM

Earlier this month, I shared new research about risk factors for REM Sleep Behavior Disorder, in which people kick or punch during sleep. Now there is more research that points – eventually – toward new treatments for REM Sleep Behavior Disorder.

Sleep Deprivation Affects the Body Just Like Physical Stress

By Anuj Chandra, M.D., D.ABSM

According to new research from the Netherlands, severe sleep loss causes physical effects on the immune system that are very similar to the body's response to stress.

In a study reported in the journal SLEEP, scientists from Erasmus MC University Medical Center in the Netherlands and the University of Surrey in Great Britain had 15 healthy young men get plenty of sleep and abstain from caffeine, alcohol and medications for a week. Then they made them stay awake for 29 hours and compared how their immune systems were acting when they had plenty of rest and when they were sleep deprived.

New Research Shows Risk Factors for REM Sleep Behavior Disorder

By Anuj Chandra, M.D., D.ABSM

A new research study has shown a connection between smoking, head injury and pesticide use and a rare sleep disorder called REM Sleep Behavior Disorder, in which people kick or punch during sleep.

Normally, when we go into rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and start dreaming, we lose muscle tone and remain literally paralyzed for as long as we are dreaming. People with REM Sleep Behavior Disorder do not lose the ability to move, however. Instead, their dreams actually cause them to move. In mild cases, they may kick or punch during sleep. In more severe cases, they may get out of bed and act out their dreams. Whether the condition is mild or severe, people with this disorder may be a danger to themselves and to their bed partner because their movements can sometimes become violent.

Sleeping Less than Six Hours per Night Means Four Times Greater Stroke Risk

By Dr. Anuj Chandra, M.D., D.ABSM

There is new evidence of the connection between insufficient sleep and stroke. I just returned from the SLEEP conference in Boston, the 26th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, where the research was presented.

Sleep researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham found that people who routinely sleep only six hours a night have a risk of stroke four times greater than people who got seven to eight hours of sleep every night.

Sleep In America Poll Shows that Planes, Trains, Trucks, Buses and Taxis Are Driven by Sleepy People

By Dr. Anuj Chandra, M.D., D.ABSM

Pilots and train operators hold hundreds of lives in their hands every day. But, according to a new poll, they themselves say they are not getting enough sleep and it is affecting their job performance.

This year's Sleep In America poll by the National Sleep Foundation is the first poll to ask transportation professionals -- including pilots and train operators, as well as truckers, and bus/taxi/limo drivers -- about how they sleep and whether it affects their work performance.

Dr. Anuj Chandra Co-Authors First Case Report of Ocular Myasthenia Improving with CPAP Therapy

Dr. Anuj Chandra and several of his colleagues -- including Saira Naseer, MD, Victor O. Kolade, MD, FACP, Sarim Idrees, MD and Sidra Naseer, BBA -- have described the first case of Ocular Myasthenia which improved with use of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy. An article about their observation has been accepted for publication in the July 2012 issue of Tennessee Medicine, the journal of the Tennessee Medical Association.

Myasthenia Gravis is a condition in which an autoimmune reaction disrupts the body's normal communication between nerves and muscles, resulting in muscle weakness and even paralysis. Eye muscles are often affected along with other muscles. The eyes may be the only muscles affected, which is a condition called Ocular Myasthenia.

Dr. Anuj Chandra Trains Indian Physicians at National Sleep Medicine Course

Dr. Anuj Chandra, a Chattanooga sleep specialist who has been a leader in bringing cutting edge sleep medicine to India, again served as faculty this year at the Sixth Annual Sleep Medicine Course, which was held Dec. 10-11 in Mumbai, India. About 200 internists and family physicians, specialists, residents and sleep technicians from across India attended this year, more than double the attendance at last year's course. In addition, two of the most famous researchers in sleep medicine served as keynote speakers, and sponsorship from American device makers increased significantly.