http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. All mammals sleep, as do birds and some insects. However, how this basic function is regulated by the brain remains unclear. According to a new study by researchers from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute, a brain region called the lateral habenula plays a central role in the regulation of REM sleep. In an article published today in the Journal of Neuroscience, the team shows that the lateral habenula maintains and regulates REM sleep in rats through regulation of the serotonin system. This study is the first to show a role of the lateral habenula in linking serotonin metabolism and sleep. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-getting-a-grip-on-sleep.html Neuroscience Tue, 14 May 2013 17:00:02 EST news287759136 The strongest predictor of whether a man is developing dementia with Lewy bodies—the second most common form of dementia in the elderly—is whether he acts out his dreams while sleeping, Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered. Patients are five times more likely to have dementia with Lewy bodies if they experience a condition known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder than if they have one of the risk factors now used to make a diagnosis, such as fluctuating cognition or hallucinations, the study found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-linked-dementia.html Neuroscience Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:30:01 EST news283101928 Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have, for the first time, identified a specific group of cells in the brainstem whose activation during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is critical for the regulation of emotional memory processing. The findings, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, could help lead to the development of effective behavioral and pharmacological therapies to treat anxiety disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, phobias and panic attacks. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-reveals-potential-anxiety-disorders.html Neuroscience Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:00:02 EST news281722254 Sleep is supported by natural cycles of activity in the brain and consists of two basic states: rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. Typically, people begin the sleep cycle with NREM sleep followed by a very short period of REM sleep, then continue with more NREM sleep and more REM sleep, this 90 minute cycle continuing through the night. A review of all known scientific studies on the impact of drinking on nocturnal sleep has clarified that alcohol shortens the time it takes to fall asleep, increases deep sleep, and reduces REM sleep. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-alcohol-effects.html Health Tue, 22 Jan 2013 16:00:05 EST news278091603 (Medical Xpress)—Witnessing a car wreck or encountering a poisonous snake are scenes that become etched in our memories. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-rem-emotional-memories.html Neuroscience Tue, 18 Dec 2012 08:37:17 EST news275042062 A new study shows that both length of time and percentage of overall sleep spent in different sleep stages are associated with decreased metabolic rate, increased hunger, and increased intake of calories (specifically from fat and carbohydrates). The findings suggest an explanation for the association between sleep problems and obesity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-architecture-hunger.html Health Mon, 22 Oct 2012 13:29:39 EST news270131324 Two powerful brain chemical systems work together to paralyze skeletal muscles during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, according to new research in the July 11 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The finding may help scientists better understand and treat sleep disorders, including narcolepsy, tooth grinding, and REM sleep behavior disorder. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-muscles-paralyzed.html Neuroscience Wed, 11 Jul 2012 13:05:42 EST news261230725 Smoking, head injury, pesticide exposure, farming and less education may be risk factors for a rare sleep disorder that causes people to kick or punch during sleep, according to a study published in the June 27, 2012, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-injury-pesticide-factors-rare-disorder.html Neuroscience Wed, 27 Jun 2012 17:31:14 EST news260037060 What goes bump in the night? In many U.S. households: people. That's according to new Stanford University School of Medicine research, which found that about 3.6 percent of U.S. adults are prone to sleepwalking. The work also showed an association between nocturnal wanderings and certain psychiatric disorders, such as depression and anxiety. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-sleepwalking-prevalent-adults-previously.html Neuroscience Mon, 14 May 2012 16:00:03 EST news256228005 (Medical Xpress) -- The link between dreaming and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep are well understood – but the fact that consciousness is reduced during nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep is not. Recently, scientists in the Cyclotron Research Centre at the University of Liège, in Liège, Belgium, and the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, and the Functional Neuroimaging Unit at the Montreal Geriatrics Institute, investigated NREM sleep with the hypothesis that this phenomenon is associated with increased modularity of the brain’s functional activity during these periods. Using functional clustering – which estimates how integration is hierarchically organized within and across the constituent parts of a system they found that while in NREM sleep, hierarchically-organized large-scale neural networks were disaggregated into smaller independent modules. The researchers concluded that this difference could reduce the ability of the brain to integrate information, thereby accounting for the decreased consciousness experienced during NREM sleep. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-dreamless-nights-brain-nonrapid-eye.html Neuroscience Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:00:02 EST news253181445 People with symptoms suggesting rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder, or RBD, have twice the risk of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or Parkinson's disease within four years of diagnosis with the sleep problem, compared with people without the disorder, a Mayo Clinic study has found. The researchers published their findings recently in the Annals of Neurology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-rem-disorder-mild-cognitive-impairment.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:49:20 EST news250937345 They say time heals all wounds, and new research from the University of California, Berkeley, indicates that time spent in dream sleep can help. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-painful-memories.html Medical research Wed, 23 Nov 2011 12:30:04 EST news241273790 (Medical Xpress) -- In the ongoing quest to find the exact way that anesthetics interact with the central nervous system, anesthesiology researchers have been examining whether the state induced by anesthetics resembles natural sleep. One way to measure this is to determine whether undergoing general anesthesia results in a sleep debt for patients. Previous research has shown that the injected anesthetic propofol does not cause a sleep deficit. Now, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have shown in animal models that another group of anesthetics, commonly used in the operating room, do not substitute for natural sleep and may cause complications for surgery patients already at-risk for sleep-related issues. The new research is published in the October 2011 issue of the journal Anesthesiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-anesthetics-affects-ways.html Sleep apnea Tue, 04 Oct 2011 08:25:00 EST news236935493 Patients suffering REM sleep behaviour disorders dream nightmares in which they are attacked and pursued, with the particularity that they express them by screaming, crying, punching and kicking while sleeping. Lancet Neurology has published the third consecutive work in five years about the relationship between this disorder and Parkinson's disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-rem-behavior-disorder-factor-parkinson.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:40:01 EST news231163274 Researchers at the University of Toronto are the first to indentify a potential cause for a severe sleep disorder that has been closely linked to Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-potential-severe-disorder-implications-parkinson.html Neuroscience Wed, 15 Jun 2011 10:49:08 EST news227353722