https://medicalxpress.com/sleep-medicine-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Sleep medicine The American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) has released a new clinical guideline on obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in pregnancy. Published in the journal CHEST, the guideline contains nine evidence-based recommendations that provide a reliable model for caring for pregnant patients with OSA. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-guideline-disordered-pregnancy.html Mon, 27 Jul 2026 07:20:03 EDT news704354702 Disrupted sleep and anxiety may be ongoing issues for many people after the pandemic, whether due to COVID-19 directly or to the stress and anxiety caused by the global pandemic, and may contribute to the fatigue commonly reported by people with Post-COVID-19 Syndrome (PCS, or "long COVID"). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-pandemic-issues-late.html Sat, 25 Jul 2026 12:00:01 EDT news704030805 Researchers from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and Hospital Universitario Severo Ochoa in Leganés, part of the public health network of the Comunidad de Madrid, have developed a methodology that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze brain electrical activity during sleep and facilitate the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's. The study, recently published in the journal GeroScience, demonstrates that analyzing nocturnal brain waves using machine learning techniques makes it possible to noninvasively identify early neural alterations and classify patients into three distinct biological subgroups. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-ai-analysis-early-diagnosis-alzheimer.html Wed, 22 Jul 2026 17:20:06 EDT news703937750 Sleep is known to be essential for survival, as it allows both humans and other animals to rest, while the brain consolidates memories and clears out metabolic waste products. For many people worldwide, however, falling asleep at a reasonable time every evening and sleeping enough hours is challenging, due to various conditions such as insomnia, circadian rhythm disorders, depression and anxiety. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-newly-molecule.html Wed, 22 Jul 2026 09:20:03 EDT news703772239 In a randomized clinical trial published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, ingesting capsules containing fecal microbes from healthy donors helped treat symptoms of insomnia. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-fecal-microbe-transplantation-people-chronic.html Wed, 22 Jul 2026 03:00:09 EDT news703832621 In the 108-year history of daylight saving time in the United States, the country has moved three times to institute it year-round: during each of the two world wars and in 1973–74. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-clock-congress-daylight.html Tue, 21 Jul 2026 15:00:01 EDT news703858556 Nearly half of pregnant women in the United States report poor sleep quality, which has been associated with gestational diabetes and high blood pressure during pregnancy. A new study led by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis' Bursky School of Public Health found that depressive symptoms, prenatal distress and anxiety are the strongest predictors of poor sleep during late pregnancy, with environmental exposures such as air pollution and noise also playing significant roles. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-mental-health-environment-pregnancy.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 07:20:07 EDT news703747621 Researchers estimate that more than 80 million U.S. adults are living with obstructive sleep apnea, a condition in which the soft tissue at the back of the throat collapses and blocks the airway during sleep. This blockage causes shallow or irregular breathing that lowers oxygen levels, decreasing sleep quality and raising the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-hypoglossal-nerve-obstructive-apnea-downstream.html Fri, 17 Jul 2026 16:40:01 EDT news703497838 There's a small fire isolated in your kitchen. If you had the right tool, you might be able to put it out. But before you can, the sprinklers turn on and flood your entire house. An automatic response to an issue has now damaged everything you own. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-hours-alzheimer-breakthrough.html Fri, 17 Jul 2026 11:20:01 EDT news703497775 Melatonin is best known for helping us sleep. But a new study suggests it might have another surprising use: easing muscle and joint pain. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-melatonin-ease-chronic-muscle-joint.html Thu, 16 Jul 2026 14:20:01 EDT news703422721 Sleep disorders may do more than leave people feeling tired. New research from Florida International University shows that sleep disorders are associated with structural changes in brain regions involved in attention, motivation and decision-making. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-disorders-dont-exhaust-brain.html Thu, 16 Jul 2026 09:20:03 EDT news703406539 Regularly sleeping long hours each night is associated with higher levels of an Alzheimer's-related protein in the blood, even after accounting for other health factors, a new study from UT Health San Antonio, the academic health center of The University of Texas at San Antonio, suggests. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-links-hours-higher-alzheimer-protein.html Thu, 16 Jul 2026 07:00:04 EDT news703399742 Maybe you're a new parent or someone who lies awake at night. If so, you may have started to worry you're not getting enough sleep. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-debt-pay-expert.html Tue, 14 Jul 2026 13:20:05 EDT news703244581 Have trouble sleeping? The reason may depend in part on your age. A recent study that included psychology researchers from Binghamton University investigates how poor sleep alters brain communication across the adult lifespan, specifically examining how these changes vary by age and biological sex. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-poor-quality-involves-brain-age.html Tue, 14 Jul 2026 11:20:10 EDT news703241882 A new study from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) has found that children exposed to secondhand smoke have significantly poorer sleep quality and greater sleep fragmentation, independent of the severity of their breathing problems. The prospective clinical trial, published Monday in the journal Scientific Reports, uses objective sleep-lab data and biological markers to demonstrate that tobacco smoke directly disrupts pediatric sleep per se, rather than simply worsening existing airway blockages. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-secondhand-independently-disrupts-children.html Mon, 13 Jul 2026 11:08:40 EDT news703159692 Good sleep is essential for brain health. During sleep and rest, the glymphatic system, the brain's waste-clearing process, helps remove metabolic waste that accumulates during waking hours. This activity is linked to memory processing, cognitive function and neural recovery. When sleep quality is poor, metabolic waste may accumulate, potentially disrupting cognitive function and memory formation. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-soft-wearable-device-home.html Fri, 10 Jul 2026 10:20:04 EDT news702896156 A new study led by University of Manchester scientists has revealed that brighter, more consistent daytime light exposure could be key to earlier bedtimes, better-quality sleep and deeper rest. The research throws new light on sleep—one of the body's most basic needs, which can trigger problems with mood, memory, metabolism and long-term health when disturbed. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-brighter-days-linked.html Fri, 10 Jul 2026 05:00:01 EDT news702720469 Scientists have discovered how damage to the myelin sheath—the insulating layer around nerve fibers—affects brain activity during sleep. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-myelin-generates-abnormal-rhythms-brain.html Thu, 09 Jul 2026 18:00:10 EDT news702814485 For several years now, sleep research has been focusing intensively on the question of whether targeted auditory stimulation during sleep can improve the consolidation of new memories. A research team in Freiburg led by the neuropsychologists Prof. Dr. Monika Schönauer and Dr. Nora Roüast has discovered that auditory stimuli during sleep can also have undesirable consequences. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-random-played-impair-memory-formation.html Thu, 09 Jul 2026 13:20:05 EDT news702809176 Large groups of people often lose sleep because of big events like a record 18-inning World Series game or a contested election night, or sudden crises like a flood, pandemic or war. In a new paper published in Clocks & Sleep, Harvard sleep researchers argue that while the mental and physical health effects of diminished sleep on individuals are well studied, what is far less understood is what happens when communities lose sleep or have it disrupted because of a major occurrence. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-bad-individuals-communities.html Thu, 09 Jul 2026 12:20:03 EDT news702808941 While fear of falling has long been linked to poor sleep among older adults, new research from George Mason University suggests that emotional well-being may be an even stronger predictor of sleep quality for people with dementia and the spouses who care for them. In what is believed to be the first study of its kind, dementia researcher Kyeung Mi Oh examined how fear of falling and sleep quality interact within dementia caregiving couples, in which one partner has probable or possible dementia and the other serves as caregiver. The work is published in the Journal of Applied Gerontology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-problems-dementia-linked-emotional-falling.html Wed, 08 Jul 2026 18:20:03 EDT news702746182 The clock reads 2:13 a.m. You are exhausted. Your eyes ache, your body feels heavy, and the alarm is already beginning to loom over the night, yet your brain refuses to let go. Instead, thoughts arrive in waves. Did you send that email? What if you forgot something important? Perhaps now is also the perfect time for your mind to replay a conversation from 2017 with forensic precision. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-wired-blame-stoneage-brain.html Wed, 08 Jul 2026 15:20:01 EDT news702734281 A single night of sleep testing may not be enough to diagnose sleep apnea, with new Flinders University research revealing that night-to-night variation can lead to missed or incorrect diagnoses. The study, published in npj Digital Medicine, found that analyzing sleep over multiple nights may provide a more accurate picture of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), challenging the longstanding reliance on one-night sleep studies. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-night-apnea-misclassify-patients.html Wed, 08 Jul 2026 10:20:05 EDT news702721620 A University of Texas at Austin-led team of researchers has developed a noninvasive patch that boosts REM sleep in real-world trials without surgery or medication. The technology, called NEUSLeeP, is a soft, wearable device that uses gentle ultrasound waves and electrodes to stimulate deep brain regions and monitor brain activity in real time. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-ultrasound-patch-boosts-rem-rest.html Tue, 07 Jul 2026 15:00:10 EDT news702654753 People who shortened their sleep by around 80 minutes a night for six weeks gained weight—1 pound on average—and were more sedentary, researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons found. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-skimping-weight-gain.html Mon, 06 Jul 2026 17:00:06 EDT news702539350 A pooled analysis of two randomized trials found that decreasing sleep by just 1.5 hours each night was associated with increases in body weight, waist circumference and sedentary time in adults with elevated cardiometabolic risk. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-modest-loss-linked-weight-gain.html Mon, 06 Jul 2026 17:00:04 EDT news702539337 Tonight, as you close your eyes in bed, something strange will happen to you: Your mind will drift from an ordinary thought to a dream, but it will be impossible to say exactly when it happened. We tend to imagine that the boundary between being asleep and awake is clear: When we are awake, we think; when we are asleep, we dream. Yet, in our study, published in Cell Reports, we show that this boundary is more porous than you think. You can dream before falling asleep and plan your day ahead after drifting off. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-youre-boundary-lot-blurrier-youd.html Fri, 03 Jul 2026 17:40:01 EDT news702130312 The brain's waste clearance system is impaired in people living with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), which can lead to various symptoms, including brain fog, Griffith University researchers have discovered. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-brain-scans-reveal-impaired-clearance.html Fri, 03 Jul 2026 08:40:05 EDT news702286134 Sleep is a fundamental aspect of human health that plays a crucial role in cognitive function, academic performance and social interactions. A study published in PLOS One by Yao Zhao at Temple University, U.S., and colleagues suggests that wearable devices can provide accurate, longitudinal sleep data to facilitate analyses of changing sleep patterns over time. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-06-wearable-device-reveals-freshman-senior.html Wed, 01 Jul 2026 14:00:21 EDT news702049862 If you're 18, getting a bit more sleep could matter more than you think. New research from the University of Copenhagen and COPSAC shows that even in healthy young people, longer nights of sleep are linked to more stable blood sugar levels the next day. What's more, the relationship appears to go both ways. The findings suggest that sleep may play an important role in our metabolism long before conditions such as diabetes develop. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-teens-bed-good-blood-sugar.html Wed, 01 Jul 2026 09:40:01 EDT news702117142