Obesity crisis examined in HBO documentary series “The Weight of the Nation”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts that if nothing is done to reverse the nation's current obesity trends, 42 percent of Americans could be obese by 2030. With the obesity current rate at 36 percent, the nation would add 32 million obese people in less than two decades. [...]
Excessive sleepiness learning, attention and school problems
Children with learning, attention and behavior problems may be suffering from sleepiness. Penn State researchers divided 508 children into two groups. One group had parents who reported their children experiencing excessive daytime sleepiness. Parents of the second group reported their children alert during the day. The sleepy kids were more [...]
Longer sleep times counteract obesity related genes
Toss out another old wives’ tale. Sleeping too much does not make you fat. Quite the opposite, according to a new study examining sleep and body mass index (BMI) in twins. Researchers found that sleeping more than nine hours a night may actually suppress genetic influences on body weight. The [...]
Poor sleep patterns predict workers headed for disability
Bad sleep could predict who misses work for more than week. A recent study out of Finland reviewed the records of 25,000 government workers. Researchers found that employees who reported severe sleep disturbances were more likely to take time off from work. Among the reasons: injuries to the back, joints [...]
RLS risk higher with history of obstructive lung disease, estrogen use
A history of obstructive lung disease nearly tripled the risk of restless leg syndrome in a recent study group. The risk of restless leg syndrome was 2½ times higher for patients using estrogen. The study looked at 535 health records from Tucson. The records were part of another project looking [...]
RBD patients waiting years before seeing a physician
People with REM sleep behavior disorder wait an average of nearly nine years before getting diagnosed, a new study reported. REM sleep behavior disorder occurs when a sleeping person acts out vivid dreams. These dreams are often filled with action, and may even be violent. A study out of Scotland [...]