My freshman year of high school was devastating. In 2016, seven students in the Ann Arbor school district lost their lives. These teens died of various causes, but it appears that several of them battled depression. Being a teen is hard work. The combination [...]
Friday morning, December 19, 2014, began as any other day. It had rained during the night and carried over into waking hours. Our daughter, Brianna Cassidy, left the house for work around 7:30 a.m. after her mother fixed her breakfast and saw her off. [...]
A new study suggests that depression and insomnia are the strongest risk factors for having frequent nightmares. The study involved 13,922 adults. They ranged in age from 25 to 74 years. All of the study subjects answered a series of questions about their health. [...]
The disturbing images of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, N.Y., were like a waking nightmare. But did the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, affect how we dream? And can we learn anything about the role of dreaming [...]
The individuals who were affected by the Boston Marathon bombing tragedy on April 15 are facing what could be a long, hard road to recovery. This process can involve a struggle to sleep well. Many people develop what doctors call “acute stress disorder” after [...]
A new study found that obstructive sleep apnea, a common form of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), is associated with increased rates of ADHD-like behavioral problems in children as well as other adaptive and learning problems. “This study provides some helpful information for medical professionals consulting [...]
The neurochemical changes underlying human emotions and social behavior are largely unknown. However, scientists at UCLA have measured the release of a specific peptide, a neurotransmitter called hypocretin, that greatly increased when subjects were happy but decreased when they were sad. The finding suggests [...]
A hospital is not the best place to get a good night's sleep, especially in a noisy intensive care unit. It's a cause for concern because studies have shown that a lack of sleep can cause patients to experience delirium – an altered mental [...]
A new study found an association between insomnia symptoms and suicidal thoughts in depressed patients. "Insomnia and nightmares, which are often confused and may go hand-in-hand, are known risk factors for suicide, but just how they contribute was unknown," said Dr. W. Vaughn McCall, [...]
A new study reports that the rate of ADHD diagnosis among children has increased over the last decade. The study involved an analysis of medical records from a major health plan in Southern California. Records for more than 842,000 children were analyzed. Trends from 2001 [...]
