Why Do Graveyard Shifts Wreak Havoc on Human Metabolism?
By getting volunteers to live in a sleep lab for more than a month, researchers hope to unravel the effects of chronic sleep debt and circadian rhythm gone awry
"sleep"
Good Snooze for Insomniacs--Therapy Is as Effective as Sleep Drugs
A review of studies on the treatment of chronic insomnia finds that cognitive behavioral therapy is an effective alternative to drug interventions
Parents Support Later Start Times for High School
A new, national survey released by the University of Michigan has found that 50 percent of parents who have teenage children would support later start times for high school.
The Neuroscience of Lucid Dreams
Lucid dreams are perhaps the most bizarre perceptual experience one can have. You are asleep and dreaming, but suddenly you realize that it's all just a dream.
Less Sleep Means More Stress for Teens
Teens stay up late at night and sleep late into the morning, a result of a natural shift in their circadian rhythms. That biological schedule puts them at odds with the adult world, as well as early start times for high school.
Your Brain on Thanks
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It may not have the cache of winter holidays or the Cash! Yay! of a birthday, but it is the best feel-good holiday of the year.
Why Am I So Tired?
Sometimes there’s no clear medical reason for flagging energy and dragging drive. And sometimes the tried-and-true trio of sleep, diet, and exercise doesn’t help as much as we wish. Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen offers 7 possibilities, some common, some not-so-obvious, for why you may be tired
How Your Smartphone Messes with Your Brain—and Your Sleep
Light from those screens triggers a chemical reaction that makes you think it is morning
Baffling Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Set for Diagnostic Overhaul
Researchers might soon redefine the mysterious condition, while the latest findings point to the role of brain inflammation
Beat Jet Lag With This Scientist-Developed App
Fed up with jet lag when you fly long distances? University of Michigan mathematicians have your back. They've developed a free app, available today, based on mathematical models that can tell you when to go outdoors and when to stay in bed to avoid the sleepiness and other side effects of crossing multiple time zones [...]
Top 9 Causes of Fatigue
House Call Doctor: Quick and Dirty Tips for Taking Charge of Your Health
Why We Are Not Getting Enough Sleep
Glorious, refreshing sleep is eluding the majority of Americans. According to the National Sleep Foundation’s2013 International Bedroom Poll 56 percent of people between the ages of 25 and 55 get an insufficient amount of sleep on workdays.
Sleeps Role in Obesity, Schizophrenia, Diabetes...Everything
Is sleep good for everything? Scientists hate giving unqualified answers. But the more sleep researchers look, the more the answer seems to be tending toward a resounding affirmative.
Caring for the Patient When the Patient Doesn’t Care
In medical school, we learn that our job is to help our patients. This point seems so obvious that we take it for granted; we tell ourselves that this is the purpose served by the endless hours in the library and late nights on the wards.
Fat Tuesday: Does Jet-Lag Make You Chronobese?
Chronic jetlag, habitual night shifts, and rotating shift work, can have deleterious consequences on circadian organization and metabolic health, says a new report in the Annals of the New York Academy of Science.
The Neural Magic of Hypnotic Suggestion
A new review of the scientific literature studying hypnosis, in the journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience, by Oakley and Halligan, discusses the potential for hypnosis to provide insights into brain mechanisms involved in attention, motor control, pain perception, beliefs and volition and also to produce informative analogues of clinical conditions.
Dreaming of Nonsense: The Evolutionary Enigma of Dream Content
Evolutionary theorists question whether there's an adaptive purpose to dreaming