https://medicalxpress.com/sleep-medicine-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Sleep medicine For decades, the answer to "how much sleep does an adult need?" has been simple: eight hours. The idea dates back to the mid-19th century, when the notion of eight hours of work, eight for recreation and eight for sleep first took hold. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-eighthour.html Tue, 25 Aug 2026 10:00:03 EDT news706868582 A short workout or a nap can help protect memory after a sleepless night, a McGill University-led study has found. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-workout-nap-sleepless-brain.html Mon, 24 Aug 2026 12:00:05 EDT news706790281 It's 4 a.m., you've finally drifted off, and then the phone rings. It's work calling. You have to go in. The right to disconnect from work has been protected by law in Australia since 2024. This means most employees can refuse to answer calls from work outside their regular work hours. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-oncall-disrupt.html Fri, 21 Aug 2026 18:40:03 EDT news706529007 COVID-19 can leave behind fatigue, breathing difficulties and neurological symptoms that persist long after the initial infection. Because these effects can also disturb sleep, researchers have questioned whether COVID-19 might alter the physiological mechanisms underlying obstructive sleep apnea. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-covid.html Fri, 21 Aug 2026 15:20:06 EDT news706538461 With more than 7 million Americans living with Alzheimer's dementia—a number projected to reach nearly 13 million by 2050—new Emory University research suggests that higher vitamin D supplement intake may be associated with better cognitive function in adults at elevated risk of dementia. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-high-dose-vitamin-d-cognition.html Wed, 19 Aug 2026 12:40:05 EDT news706361941 Why does staying awake inevitably make us sleepy? Researchers at the University of Basel, Switzerland, have identified neuronal populations in the brains of mice that become activated during prolonged wakefulness and are crucial for sleep drive. Their findings provide new insights into how the brain generates the need for sleep. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-sleepy-neurons.html Wed, 19 Aug 2026 11:00:08 EDT news706195621 Healthy sleep patterns in midlife are linked to longer working life expectancy, findings from a large study of working-age men and women suggest. The study was published online in Occupational & Environmental Medicine. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-healthy-patterns-midlife-linked-longer.html Tue, 18 Aug 2026 18:30:06 EDT news706183022 For many teenagers, the hardest part of the school day may begin well before the first bell rings: waking up when their brains are still wired for sleep. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-experts-science-school.html Tue, 18 Aug 2026 09:00:03 EDT news706258423 University of Missouri researchers have found that a simple scheduling change can improve the health and well-being of physicians working overnight shifts. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-small-big-health-benefits-night.html Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:00:05 EDT news706183081 A person's sleep patterns could be an early sign of Alzheimer's disease, a new study says. A greater number of micro-awakenings during sleep is linked to a greater genetic risk for Alzheimer's, researchers report in the journal Sleep. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-disturbances-linked-genetic-alzheimer.html Fri, 14 Aug 2026 18:40:02 EDT news705910422 Research has shown that a good night's sleep has many benefits, including memory consolidation. How sleep enables the brain to strengthen memories is still not completely understood, but a new study published in Neuron reveals how astrocytes, brain cells known for supporting neurons and their functions, can directly regulate brain circuits involved in memory consolidation. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-astrocytes-brain-circuits-memories-reveals.html Thu, 13 Aug 2026 11:40:07 EDT news705839042 What if certain signs of the disease were to manifest subtly during sleep, long before the first memory problems appear? This is the line of inquiry being explored by a team of researchers at ULiège. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-people-alzheimer-disease-earlier-stage.html Tue, 11 Aug 2026 14:20:06 EDT news705668821 Almost half of Finnish parents feel that their infants' sleep is abnormal. However, measuring sleep disturbances is complicated. In her doctoral thesis, University of Helsinki researcher Sofie de Sena investigated infant sleep using a smart wearable system called NAPPA (NAPping PAnts). It measures infant sleep at home and provides information on body position, respiration and activity. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-wearable-tech-babies-night-awakenings.html Tue, 11 Aug 2026 13:40:03 EDT news705665422 The first night in a new place is always the same for Robinson Leoni: He takes longer to fall asleep, wakes up more often during the night and gets less sleep overall. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-night-effect.html Tue, 11 Aug 2026 06:20:02 EDT news705634637 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Orzeyful (oveporexton) tablets to treat narcolepsy type 1 in adults. Orzeyful marks the first medication approved for the full range of symptoms associated with narcolepsy type 1 and is the first approved drug to directly target the loss of orexin signaling that causes the disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-fda-drug-full-range-narcolepsy.html Thu, 06 Aug 2026 18:00:03 EDT news705255962 The first evidence that night work and chronic insomnia may increase the risk of developing long COVID comes from a new study led by ISGlobal, a center supported by the "la Caixa" Foundation, in collaboration with the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) through the GCAT | Genomes for Life cohort. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-night-shift-linked-higher-covid.html Thu, 06 Aug 2026 17:40:07 EDT news705255661 According to a study conducted in Brazil by researchers at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) with participants from the São Paulo Epidemiological Sleep Study (EPISONO 2018), people with hypothyroidism experience more frequent and severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The results also indicated that patients receiving hormone replacement therapy for thyroid dysfunction slept longer and spent more time in deep sleep. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-link-hypothyroidism-apnea.html Wed, 05 Aug 2026 16:20:11 EDT news705162662 Close the door, shut the windows and turn up the heat, and you have all the ingredients for a sick bedroom in your home—and you spend about eight hours there every night. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-bedroom-unhealthiest-room-home.html Wed, 05 Aug 2026 09:00:03 EDT news705134342 Narcolepsy is a chronic neurological condition characterized by disruptions in the regulation of sleep-wake cycles. People with this condition often experience extreme sleepiness during the day and, in some cases, a sudden but temporary loss of muscle strength while conscious, called cataplexy. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-laughter-trigger-sudden-muscle-weakness.html Wed, 05 Aug 2026 08:00:03 EDT news705056244 Drastic or even life-threatening events can have lingering effects, like an echo. This is referred to as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The brain is unable to process these overwhelming experiences and stores the memories in such a way that they cannot be consciously controlled. They resurface again and again, including at night, when people with PTSD relive the trauma over and over until they wake up—usually in a state of panic. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-cannabis-derived-thc-ptsd-nightmares.html Wed, 05 Aug 2026 05:00:05 EDT news705072301 A new UC Davis Health study published in Psychological Medicine suggests that when it comes to helping adolescents succeed in school and maintain healthy friendships, sleep may matter more than screen time, exercise or diet. This was particularly true for youth experiencing anxiety, depression or other mental health challenges. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-good-night-adolescents-school-friends.html Tue, 04 Aug 2026 22:40:01 EDT news705068101 Your neighborhood's "streetscape"—the physical environment of your street—is something you have probably never consciously thought about, despite seeing it every day. But what if the streetscape was affecting you on a subconscious level and disrupting your sleep? https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-relationship-streets-safety.html Mon, 03 Aug 2026 18:20:03 EDT news704986922 Sleep does not isolate the brain from the world—rather, it affects how the brain balances the processing of different types of sensory information. A Swiss study shows that as we drift off to REM sleep, signals from the outside world gradually decrease while those coming from our own body are preserved or even enhanced. Scientists from the universities of Lausanne and Geneva offer a partial explanation for this phenomenon. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-brain-rem-eeg.html Mon, 03 Aug 2026 11:00:05 EDT news704707141 A novel AI model can use information collected during routine sleep studies to identify patients' long-term health risks, according to a new study published in Nature Communications. Developed by a multidisciplinary research team, the model uncovered hidden sleep patterns linked to risks including heart disease, cognitive decline and death. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-ai-previously-unrecognized-health-insights.html Mon, 03 Aug 2026 10:40:01 EDT news704970422 REM sleep is already called "paradoxical sleep." The body is largely still, yet the brain is highly active. In humans, this is also the stage most closely associated with vivid dreaming. Our study, published in Communications Biology, has revealed another paradox hidden within REM sleep: Brain blood volume increased, but the ATP available inside neurons decreased. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-blood-neuronal-energy-rem.html Sun, 02 Aug 2026 11:00:04 EDT news704454464 Sleep is a crucial physiological process that supports recovery, clears metabolic waste products from the brain, regulates metabolism and supports the functioning of the immune system. Sleep is also known to play a key role in consolidating different types of memories, ranging from memories of past events and memorized facts to newly acquired skills or habits (i.e., procedural memories). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-replay-skills-independently-hippocampus-mouse.html Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:40:24 EDT news704550515 Weaker rest-activity rhythms (RARs) and unfavorable sleep profiles are associated with a higher prevalence of overactive bladder (OAB), according to a study published online July 17 in Neurourology and Urodynamics. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-weaker-rest-rhythm-unfavorable-profile.html Tue, 28 Jul 2026 23:20:01 EDT news704463853 Sleep disturbances are far more common among workers in middle to later life than previously believed, according to a study that links work-related stress to a range of well-being issues. Researchers found that nearly 70% of participants experienced persistent, clinically significant sleep problems, despite having no known history of sleep disorders. Even more concerning, almost 92% met the clinical threshold for a sleep disorder at least once during the study. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-potential-crisis-workers-links-stress.html Tue, 28 Jul 2026 16:20:03 EDT news704463781 Researchers at Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins Medicine have discovered that memory consolidation during sleep depends on coordinated activity among three brain regions, and disruptions to this activity can impair memory performance. This is the first human study to directly link interactions between the orbitofrontal cortex, thalamus and hippocampus to memory, offering new insight into how the brain strengthens memories and how epilepsy can affect the sleep-memory system. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-kind-reveals-memory-epilepsy-disrupt.html Tue, 28 Jul 2026 14:40:05 EDT news704463182 The brain demands a lot of energy compared with other organs. However, it can also make do when energy supplies are scarce, flexibly processing information using what is available. How the brain resourcefully allocates this limited energy across internal states remains a key question in neuroscience. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-energy-rem-paradox.html Tue, 28 Jul 2026 09:20:01 EDT news704448841