Sleep apnea linked to sudden death. It increases the risk of death by 46%. Plos Medicine, Issue 8, Vol 6. Aug 18, 2009

Gene linked to poor sleep ( "Short Sleep gene"). Science Aug 14, 2009

Sleep Hygiene Tips

The promotion of regular sleep is known as sleep hygiene. The following is a list of sleep hygiene tips which can be used to improve sleep. Also included is a list of special relevance to adolescents, who may experience sleep difficulties due to circadian rhythm changes occurring during the teenage years and into young adulthood.

Adults:

1. Go to bed at the same time each night and rise at the same time each morning.
    
2. Make sure your bedroom is a quiet, dark, and relaxing environment, which is neither too hot or too cold.
    
3. Make sure your bed is comfortable and use it only for sleeping and not for other activities, such as reading, watching TV, or listening to music. Remove all TVs, computers, and other “gadgets” from the bedroom.
    
4. Physical activity may help promote sleep, but not within a few hours of bedtime.
    
5. Avoid large meals before bedtime.

Adolescents/Young Adults:

1. Avoid caffeinated drinks after lunch.
    
2. Avoid bright light in the evening.
    
3. Avoid arousing activities around bedtime (e.g., heavy study, text messaging, getting into prolonged conversations).
    
4. Expose yourself to bright light upon awakening in the morning.
    
5. While sleeping in on weekends is permissible, it should not be more than 2–3 hours past your usual wake time, to avoid disrupting your circadian rhythm governing sleepiness and
   wakefulness.
    
6. Avoid pulling an “all-nighter” to study.

Adapted From: Taheri S. The link between short sleep duration and obesity: We should recommend more sleep to present obesity. Arch Dis Child 2006;91:881–884.

From http://www.cdc.gov/sleep/hygiene.htm

 

Reduced sleep is a risk factor for obesity

From www.pubmed.org

Obes Rev. 2009 Nov;10 Suppl 2:61-8.

Reduced sleep as an obesity risk factor.

Patel SR.

Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA. srp20@case.edu

Poor sleep has increasingly gained attention as a potential contributor to therecent obesity epidemic. The increased prevalence of obesity in Western nations over the past half-century has been paralleled by a severe reduction in sleep duration. Physiological studies suggest reduced sleep may impact hormonal regulation of appetite. Prospective studies suggest reduced habitual sleep duration as assessed by self-report is an independent risk factor for an increased rate of weight gain and incident obesity. Cross-sectional studies have demonstrated that the association between reduced sleep and obesity persists when sleep habits are measured objectively, that the association is as a result of elevations in fat and not muscle mass and that this association is not related to sleep apnoea. Thus, reduced sleep appears to represent a novel, independent risk factor for increased weight gain. Further research is needed to determine whether interventions aimed at increasing sleep may be useful in combating obesity.

PMID: 19849803 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Obstructive sleep apnea is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes

Am J Med. 2009 Dec;122(12):1122-7.

From www.pubmed.org

Obstructive sleep apnea as a risk factor for type 2 diabetes.

Botros N, Concato J, Mohsenin V, Selim B, Doctor K, Yaggi HK.

Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.

PURPOSE: Cross-sectional studies have documented the co-occurrence of obstructive sleep apnea (hereafter, sleep apnea) with glucose intolerance, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (hereafter, diabetes). It has not been determined, however, whether sleep apnea is independently associated with the subsequent development of diabetes, accounting for established risk factors.

METHODS: This observational cohort study examined 1233 consecutive patients in the Veteran Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System referred for evaluation of sleep-disordered breathing; 544 study participants were free of preexisting diabetes and completed a full, attended, diagnostic polysomnogram. The study population was divided into quartiles based on severity of sleep apnea as measured by the apnea-hypopnea index. The main outcome was incident diabetes defined as fasting glucose level >126 mg/dL and a corresponding physician diagnosis. Compliance with positive airway pressure therapy, and its impact on the main outcome, also was examined.

RESULTS: In unadjusted analysis, increasing severity of sleep apnea was associated with an increased risk of diabetes (P for linear trend <.001). After adjusting for age, sex, race, baseline fasting blood glucose, body mass index, and weight change, an independent association was found between sleep apnea and incident diabetes (hazard ratio per quartile 1.43; confidence interval 1.10-1.86). Among patients with more severe sleep apnea (upper 2 quartiles of severity), 60% had evidence of regular positive airway pressure use, and this treatment was associated with an attenuation of the risk of diabetes (log-rank test P=.04).

CONCLUSION: Sleep apnea increases the risk of developing diabetes, independent of other risk factors. Among patients with more severe sleep apnea, regular positive airway pressure use may attenuate this risk.

PMCID: PMC2799991 [Available on 2010/12/1]

PMID: 19958890 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Less Sleep, Extra Weight

Young children who do not get enough sleep are at increased risk of becoming overweight, suggests a longitudinal analysis of sleep in relation to body mass index (BMI) and body fat performed by a research team in New Zealand (Carter PJ et al. BMJ. 2011;342: d2712.). The investigators measured the height, weight, BMI, and body composition of 244 children between the ages of 3 and 7 years who were taking part in the Family Lifestyle, Activity, Movement, and Eating (FLAME) study in Dunedin, New Zealand. They also measured sleep habits and physical activity levels by accelerometry and dietary intake with a questionnaire at 3, 4, and 5 years. The average length of sleep was 11 hours per day at all 3 ages. The results showed that each additional hour of sleep at ages 3 through 5 years was associated with a reduction in BMI of 0.48 and a reduced risk of being overweight of 0.39 (95% confidence interval, 0.24-0.63) at age 7 years, even after adjustment for multiple cofounders. The reductions in BMI were due to differences in fat mass rather than additional accumulation of fat-free mass.—M. J. Friedrich, JAMA, July 20, 2011—Vol 306, No. 3, p. 257.