Individuals with either current or past insomnia are more likely to report a family history of insomnia than are those who have never had the sleep disorder, according to a study published in the December 1 issue of the journal SLEEP.

Practice parameters published in the December 1 issue of the journal SLEEP serve as both an update of previous practice parameters for the therapy of narcolepsy and as the first practice parameters to address treatment of other hypersomnias of central origin, including idiopathic hypersomnia, recurrent hypersomnia and hypersomnia due to medical condition.

The most common factors believed to contribute to diabetes are a decreased amount of physical activity and access to highly palatable processed foods. However, there is growing evidence that another aspect of our modern lifestyle, short sleep duration, is also contributing toward the “diabetes epidemic”, according to a study published in the December 1 issue of the journal SLEEP.

As the obesity epidemic grows in the U.S., doctors are discovering more and more far reaching health concerns for overweight children

A procedure known as uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) may help some patients improve or even eliminate their obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), according to a new study.

In spring 2005 a large European research and training network was established to investigate the causes and implications of poor sleep from a medical as well as from a social point of view.

It has long been assumed that sleep deprivation can play havoc with our emotions.

Without sleep, the emotional centers of the brain dramatically overreact to negative experiences, reveals a new brain imaging study in the October 23rd issue of Current Biology, a publication of Cell Press. The reason for that hyperactive emotional response in sleep-deprived people stems from a shutdown of the prefrontal lobe—a region that normally keeps emotions under control.

Children diagnosed with sleep-disordered breathing appear to sleep better and have improved behavior following removal of their tonsils and adenoids, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Sleep disorders are common and poorly understood. In humans, narcolepsy is a sleep disorder associated with sleepiness, abnormal dreaming, paralysis and insomnia. Neuropeptides called hypocretins are implicated in this disorder.

Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have hooked a fish that suffers from insomnia in their quest to understand the genetics behind sleep disorders.

A study published in the October 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (JCSM) features the Cleveland Adolescent Sleepiness Questionnaire (CASQ), a new self-completed instrument to measure excessive daytime sleepiness in adolescents.