Sleep may help regulate emotional responses

October 2nd, 2009 LONDON - There's some good news for students with feeble memories. A nasal spray developed by German scientists promises to boost late night cram sessions, provided a good night's sleep follows.

October 1st, 2009 WASHINGTON - Long-term alcoholism can have detrimental effects on a person's sleep despite long periods of abstinence, according to a study. And the above pattern is similar in both men and women.

September 11th, 2009 MELBOURNE - Australian scientists have come up with a non-invasive screening tool for detecting obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). Snoring is a very early symptom of sleep apnoea, however, monitoring the changes in pitch, frequency and other characteristics of the snores can help detect OSA.

September 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A drug initially used to treat seizures improves sleep quality in menopausal women with hot flashes, claims a new study. University of Rochester Medical Center researchers have reported the finding online and in the September issue of the Journal of Women's Health.

August 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - People get happier as they age and exert more emotional control than younger adults, say researchers. "Life expectancy changed because people changed the way they lived," said Dr Lauren Carstensen.

June 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - According to a new study, Body Mass Index (BMI) varies as a function of habitual sleep duration. The study has been presented at SLEEP 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.

June 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has found a link between couples' sleep quality and the quality of their relationship. It has shown that couples' relationship quality affects their sleep, and their sleep also affects their subsequent relationship functioning.

June 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - No matter how much a person works out during the day, their exertion fails to translate into increased total sleep time at night, according to a study. The researchers observed that days with increased activity were followed by nights with lower total sleep time (TST), while nights with lower TST were followed by increased activities during the next day.

June 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Gamers who are hooked on to their computers or consoles for more than seven hours a week, and who identified themselves as addicts, tend to sleep less during the weekdays and experience greater sleepiness than casual or non-gamers, according to a study. The new findings suggest that excessive gamers have significantly poorer sleep hygiene, and sleep less on weekdays than other gamers.

June 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has shown that sleep extension helps improve athletic performance. In the study, researchers found that sleep extension in athletes was associated with a faster sprinting drill, increased hitting accuracy including valid serves, and hitting depth drill.

June 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Television watching may be an important determinant of bedtime and may contribute to sleep debt, according to the latest research. The study included 21,475 people aged 15 or older.

May 28th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Researchers at the University of Missouri, US, have identified important suppressors that negatively regulate the responses of the immune system in the plant species Arabidopsis thaliana, which would allow breeders to create better yielding crop plants. "The immune system provides plants with strong protection from pathogens," said Walter Gassmann, associate professor of plant sciences in the MU Christopher S.

April 28th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Children's short sleep duration even without sleeping difficulties increases the risk for behavioural symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), says a new study. The study, led by researchers at the University of Helsinki and National Institute of Health and Welfare, Finland, examined whether decreased sleep leads to behavioral problems similar to those exhibited by children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

April 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Early birds may be chirpier in the morning, but it's the night owls that score over them when it comes to being alert after waking up from sleep, concludes a new brain-scan study. In the study, researchers monitored the brain activity of self-described early birds and night owls in a sleep lab.

February 11th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Sky diving and bungee jumping are certainly not for the timid, but those who court thrills and sensations act as if their very lives depended on it. Jane E. Joseph, Xun Liu, Yang Jiang and Thomas H.