A U.K. man has been cleared of strangling his wife, as doctors and experts proved during his trial that he killed her during a nightmare. Brian Thomas suffered from a long-term sleep disorder and experts said he was in a state of automatism, where his mind had no control over his bod, when he strangled Christine, his childhood sweetheart and wife of 40 years in July 2008.

For the first time, UCLA researchers have discovered that people with sleep apnea show tissue loss in brain regions that help store memory. Reported in the June 27 edition of the journal Neuroscience Letters, the findings emphasize the importance of early detection of the disorder, which afflicts an estimated 20 million Americans.

Insomnia together with post-deployment adjustment disorders among returning war veterans is as severe as patients suffering from chronic insomnia, according to a research abstract that will be presented on Tuesday at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS).

Parental adaptation to infant sleep was poorer when infants spent any part of the night with their parents, even when parents endorsed bedsharing, according to a research abstract that will be presented on Monday at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS).

Children with migraine are more likely to have sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea and lack of sleep, than children without migraine, according to research on the effects of headaches on children’s sleep patterns that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology 60th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Chicago, April 12–19, 2008.

Research has shown a strong relationship between weight and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Your neck gets thicker as you gain weight. This increases the level of fat in the back of the throat, making your airway more likely to be blocked.

The sleep patterns of patients in the intensive care unit are so superficial that they barely spend any time in the restorative stages of sleep that aid in healing, UT Southwestern Medical Center physicians have found.

Coffee is an effective countermeasure to sleepiness for both young and middle-aged people. However, napping is more efficient in young than in middle-aged people, according to a study published in the December 1 issue of the journal SLEEP.

Children have more difficulty initiating sleep than maintaining sleep. Further, parents tend to underestimate their children’s sleep problems. This highlights the importance of having treatment options available to help a child overcome a sleep disorder, according to a study published in the October 1 issue of the journal SLEEP.

Work time is the primary lifestyle factor with the largest reciprocal relationship to a person’s sleep time – the more hours a person works, the less sleep that he or she gets, according to a study published in the September 1 issue of the journal SLEEP.

African-Americans and other racial minorities have sleep durations associated with increased mortality. This is consistent with the belief that unhealthy sleep patterns among minorities – long sleep or short sleep – may contribute to health differentials, according to a study published in the September 1 issue of the journal SLEEP.

Sleep disorder and ear, nose and throat specialists at Thomas Jefferson University are examining an innovative procedure to treat obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.