SLEEP 2010: Top 5 New Findings

The Sleep Education blog is counting down the top five studies of SLEEP 2010, the annual meeting of sleep professionals. Members of the research community and the media were introduced to hundreds of new abstracts at the convention center in San Antonio.

5. Morning type pitchers have the advantage in Major League Baseball
Players chronotypes and time of first pitch play a major role in performance when pitching. Morning larks’ sizable advantage in day games far exceeds the slight advantage night owls have in evening games.

4. Late-starting shifts harm sleep, limit productivity
Shifts that start in the late morning to early afternoon work best for employees. Start times between 8 p.m. and 12 a.m. may limit sleep and harm performance

3. Sleep helps legendary “Guitar Heroes” learn complex motor tasks
Overall performance in the video game “Guitar Hero” dramatically improves after a night of sleep. The results suggest a link between sleep and motor learning.

2. Regular bedtimes linked to better language, reading and math skills in preschool children
Young children who slept a recommended 11 hours per night scored higher on most developmental measures than their peers. Insufficient sleep may harm a childs development.

1. Sexsomnia: its more common than you think
Nearly eight percent of patients at sleep disorder clinics have sexsomnia, a parasomnia that occurs when a person unknowingly engages in sexual activity while asleep

Even though the landmark event of the year is behind us, the Sleep Education blog will continue to provide daily updates leading up to next year’s sleep meeting. Every day we will break down the latest studies and report the latest news about sleep and sleep disorders. Talk back to us on our comments section or our regularly updated twitter account, http://twitter.com/aasmorg

SLEEP 2010 concludes in San Antonio

The final sessions of the SLEEP 2010 scientific program ended at 4:45 p.m. Central Time at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio.

The SLEEP 2011 25th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies is scheduled for June 11 to 15, 2011, in Minneapolis.

Ability to sleep while caring for infant predicts relationship satisfaction

A couple who can sleep while caring for an infant is a couple that’s more likely to last. Results of a new study show first-time parents’ relationship satisfaction is related to the amount of sleep they get.

Investigators studied 22 couples 7 weeks after the birth of their first child.

Self-reported relationship satisfaction tended to be higher when parents slept longer, as measured by actigraphy. How well they thought they slept had less of an impact.

First-time fathers were more satisfied than their partners estimated. Mothers also overrated their spouses sleep quality. Fathers tended to underestimate their wives subjective sleep quality.

Researchers measured the parents’ sleep efficiency and total sleep time for one week using wrist actigraphy. Parents also reported their perceived sleep and their partner’s sleep using a Palm Pilot. At the end of the period the couples rated their own and their partner’s relationship satisfaction.

The study’s lead author said although the findings don’t allow for causality, they suggest parents would greatly benefit from measures that target sleep during the postpartum period.

Parents typically have high levels of sleep disturbance and significant daytime functional impairments after childbirth.

The AASM encourages new parents to make sleep a top priority. A well rested couple can provide the best care for an infant child.

Image by Adwriter

When gray looks green: sleep and drifting color perception

Sleep researchers have observed a strange phenomenon that occurs the longer we stay awake. Over the course of the day the color gray starts to appear greenish. Sleep reverses the effect and the next morning gray looks like gray again.

It appears color perception drifts over the course of a day and is restored during sleep.

The study presented this morning at SLEEP 2010 is one of the first ever to investigate the effects of sleep on color perception.

A small number of participants viewed a variety of gray pictures with either slightly reddish or greenish hues. Before and after sleep, each judged whether the color was more red or green than plain gray.

Researchers noticed colorless items were classified as greenish, except after sleep. The effect was the same for both eyes.

Further testing found that overnight, full-field monocular stimulation with a flickering red “ganzfeld” did not negate the sleep-induced effect. The authors suggest the color perception resetting is an internal process largely unaffected by external visual stimulation.

Further research is needed to determine why color perception drifts and is restored by sleep.

Teen auto accident rates higher when school starts earlier

Statistics from a new study show teenage drivers are more likely to get in an accident when classes start earlier. Crash rates are 41 percent higher for students who attend schools that begin around the crack of dawn.

The teen driver study presented Wednesday at SLEEP 2010 further fuels a movement to push forward school start times.

The data came from data from two adjacent communities with similar demographics provided by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. In Virginia Beach, school starts at 7:20 a.m. Classes start at 8:40 a.m. in neighboring Chesapeake.

Accidents reports show 65.4 out of every 1,000 teen drivers in Virginia Beach were in at least one crash. Less than 5 percent of Chesapeake teens were in automobile accidents.

The crashes happened more frequently in the afternoon than morning in both communities. The afternoon accident rate was about 3.5 percent in Virginia Beach (2 p.m. dismissal) and 2 percent in Chesapeake (4 p.m. dismissal).

Although the study does not prove cause and effect, lead author Robert Vorona believes earlier start times are restricting the time available for teens to sleep. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends teens get at least 9 hours of sleep per night. Chronic sleep restriction increases the risk of an auto accident, and can lead to mood disorders, academic difficulties and behavioral issues.

Image courtesy gillicious

Study: Morning type pitchers have the advantage in Major League Baseball

Logic would assume night owls in Major League Baseball have the upper hand over the morning larks as long as they’re not on the daytime heavy schedule of the Chicago Cubs.

Turns out this only partially true, in a league dominated by night games and red-eye charter flights statistics show “morning type” pitchers somehow are at an overall advantage. The statistical boost they get in day games far exceeds the slight advantage their counterparts get in night games.

A new study found a player’s chronotype and time of first pitch play a major role in performance. The will be abstract on display at SLEEP 2010 on Wednesday morning.

18 pitchers from the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants and Tampa Bay Rays were included in the study. Researchers analyzed each pitcher’s 2009 statistics. Combined, they played 728 early innings and 845 late innings that season.

Pitchers determined their chronotype through a modified version of the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire.

Roughly half the players were morning types. That group had an ERA of 3.06 in day games. Pitchers who were evening types had a relatively higher ERA, at 3.49. All pitchers trended towards higher ERAs in late games. Evening types did have a slight advantage, at 4.07 versus 4.15 ERA.

The author of the study suggests the results could lead to a new way to classify players to optimize team performance in a given game. Baseball managers could consider player chronotypes before a pitching rotation or calling on a reliever out of the bullpen.

Final day of SLEEP 2010

The third and final day of the SLEEP 2010 scientific program is now underway. With the final plenary session wrapping up, there are still another four rounds of oral presentations, two more workshops and symposia sessions.

SLEEP 2010 will conclude this afternoon at 4:45 p.m. Central Time.

Look for more abstract analysis throughout the day on this blog. And follow our tweets from San Antonio at twitter.com/aasmorg

Sleep helps legendary "Guitar Heroes" learn complex motor tasks

Sleep on it and you’ll be better equipped to tackle more complicated motor tasks, like the endless wailing, shredding guitars solos of “Through the Fire and Flames,” one of the most difficult songs on Guitar Hero.

Researchers used the popular video game, and the fake plastic guitars that come with it, to learn about sleep and complex motor learning. They found overall performance dramatically improved after a full nights sleep.

The findings will be dissected in an abstract presentation scheduled for later this morning.

Screenshot from one of the latest "Guitar Hero" games

A group of college students practiced one of two songs on the video game “Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock” until they became moderately proficient. Then they had to take a 12 hour break.

Half the students started in the evening, slept, and returned the next morning. The other half practiced in the morning and came back later in the day.

The average initial note accuracy was 61 percent. When they returned, players in the wake condition improved to 63 percent. Those in the sleep condition fared better, with an average accuracy of 68 percent, a sizable improvement by “Guitar Hero” standards.

The study’s principal investigator says the results indicate a significant link between sleep and motor learning. He says he plans to use the popular video game in future research.

Images Courtesy Activision

Second day of SLEEP 2010 comes to a close

The final discussion group, clinical workshop and oral presentations for the second day of SLEEP 2010 are underway and will conclude at 4:45 p.m. Central Time.

Day three of the scientific program will begin with the final plenary session at 8 a.m. on Wednesday.

Dr. Susan Redline will be the featured speaker. Her presentation is titled "Childhood Antecedents for Chronic Health Conditions: The Role of Sleep Disorders." Dr. Redline is a professor of medicine, pediatrics, and epidemiology and biostatistics at Case WEstern Reserve University School of Medicine. Her research focuses on sleep disorders and age.

Two more invited lecturers are scheduled to speak in the afternoon. Dr. Ronald Harper's 1:30 p.m. presentation is "Brain Structure and Function in Sleep Pathophysiology." Dr. Jacque Montplaisir is also schedule to speak at that time. His presentation is titled "REM Sleep Behavior Disorder as a Neurodegenerative Disorder."

Moe workshops, discussion groups and symposia are also on schedule.

This blog will be covering the newsworthy studies in Wednesday's oral presentations and abstract viewings.

All types of traffic noise likely to disturb sleep, harm morning work performance

Buyers beware: living in a home near the airport, a busy road or train tracks will likely translate to a lot of groggy mornings at the office. An abstract presented Tuesday at SLEEP 2010 in San Antonio exposes the tolls of sleeping in an environment with a lot of nighttime noise.

The study found subjects exposed to recorded traffic noise while sleeping reacted slower during a psychomotor vigilance task the next morning. Reaction times tended to slow when the researchers increased the frequency or volume of the noise.

The sound of passing trains most often caused subjects to wake, followed by auto traffic and airplane noise. Each type of noise caused about the same level of impairment the following morning. Combining the three kinds of noise did not lead to worse symptoms.

The lead author of the study said the risk of being awoken by nighttime noise is highest among those who are susceptible to sleep disturbances, including children, shift workers, the elderly and those with chronic medical conditions.

72 study subjects slept in a laboratory as recorded traffic noises from airplanes, cars and trains played for 11 consecutive nights. Sleeping participants heard 40 to 120 sounds in any combination or volume per night. After waking up the subjects completed a psychomotor vigilance task, memory search task and unstable tracking task to measure neurobehavioral performance.

Traffic noises are one of the many causes of the form of insomnia called “environmental sleep disorder.” A common solution is drowning out the traffic sounds with white noise, produced by a fan or sound machine.

Large-scale study links abnormal sleep length to heart risk condition

When it comes to sleep, getting too much of a good thing may be a sign there's something wrong. Researchers in the U.K. have tied long sleep to metabolic syndrome, a condition that increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes and stroke.

The latest study to tie excessive sleep to adverse health effects was presented as a poster this morning at SLEEP 2010.

The large-scale study involved more than 29,000 people in Guangzhou, China aged 50 or older.

The findings indicated people who reported regularly sleeping more than eight hours were 15 percent more likely to have metabolic syndrome. The results were adjusted for potential confounding factors, like demography and lifestyle.

After making the same adjustments, links between short sleeper and metabolic syndrome disappeared.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute reports metabolic syndrome is a group of obesity-related risk factors that includes excess abdominal fat, high triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, high blood pressure and high blood sugar. A person diagnosed with metabolic syndrome has at least three out of those five factors.

Photos from inside SLEEP 2010

We're nearing the end of day two of the SLEEP 2010 scientific program, and its been a memorable couple of days down in San Antonio. Sleep experts and enthusiasts who were unable to join us right outside the River Walk still have a window into the meeting's latest developments.

In addition to using the blog to bring analysis to the studies drawing a lot of interest, our team is using Twitter to report the latest developments as they happen.

We're also capturing photos of some of the highlights of SLEEP 2010. Below are just a few pictures we've taken so far:

Monday check-in at the convention center Lobby

AASM President Clete Kushida looks on at the plenary session

The SLEEP 2010 exhibition hall

Research abstracts on display for viewing

Most U.S. soldiers come home with sleep disturbance

The numbers are staggering for soldiers in the weeks after returning home from war. Researchers say 86 percent of them have some kind of sleep disturbance.

An abstract being presented at SLEEP 2010 shows the toll deployment takes American servicemen and women’s sleep.

Participants in the study were assessed the moment they stepped foot back on U.S. soil. The follow-up was 45 days later. Authors used a variety of tests to screen for sleep disturbances and physical and mental health problems.

Most of the soldiers in the study didn’t have post-traumatic stress or depression. Researchers found those with a history of sleep problems, physical illness or brain injury were more likely to report sleep disturbances.

Hear a presentation on this research Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. at SLEEP 2010. You can also read a summary included in this year’s abstract supplement available on the website of the journal SLEEP.

Highly variable sleep schedule increases risk for suicidal college students

A new study that’s the subject of a presentation at SLEEP 2010 is the first to show sleep schedules can predict an elevated suicide risk, independent of depression.

A sample of at-risk undergraduate students at the Florida State University had an average bedtime of 2:08 a.m. that varied by about three hours on any given night. They slept around 6.3 hours a night.

Sleep schedule variability was the only sleep measurement that predicted increases in suicidal risk when the students returned to the lab. Irregular sleep habits also predicted greater mood lability, which in turn predicts elevated suicidal symptoms.

The suicidal subjects visited a laboratory on campus three times during the duration of the study. The students underwent a series of tests at the start of the study, a week later and after three weeks.

Suicidal and depressive symptoms were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory and the Beck Scale for Suicide. Sleep length and variability were obtained by wrist actigraphy. Mood lability was measured daily using scale mood ratings.

The lead author of the abstract, Rebecca Bernert, PhD, Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, suggests the findings could lead to new suicide intervention strategies.

“Compared to other suicide risk factors such as a past suicide attempt, disturbed sleep is modifiable, often visible and amenable to treatment,” she said. “In this way, the study of sleep may inform suicide risk assessment and represent a clinically unique opportunity for intervention.”

Learn more about this study during a presentation scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at SLEEP 2010.

Sleep apnea in kids predicts lower grades, behavioral problems

Obstructive sleep apnea is a not only a health risk for children, it’s a barrier to academic success. Schoolchildren with moderate to severe sleep-disordered breathing averaged a half a grade lower than their peers. Those same children are also prone to behavioral problems according to an abstract presented Tuesday at SLEEP 2010.

None of the children with OSA brought home report cards with an “A” average. 30 percent had a “C” average or lower. Roughly 15 percent of their peers who didn’t have OSA scored “A” averages. Only 15 percent posted average or below average grades.

The findings were regardless of race, gender, socioeconomic status and sleep duration on school nights.

Testing suggests an association between OSA and inattention and poor study skills in real-world situations. There was no significant link to neurobehavioral functions such as intelligence, memory and problem solving.

163 overweight children participated in the study. That group was chosen because excessive weight is a risk factor for the disorder. OSA diagnoses were made based on report by parents and an overnight polysomnography.

Moderate to severe OSA was defined by an apnea-hypopnea index of more than five breathing pauses per hour of sleep. About half the children had OSA.

The children and their parents gave their grades to the researchers. Teachers and parents reported behavioral concerns. Office-based neuropsychological testing was used to assess children’s neurobehavioral functioning.

Nearly 1 in 5 Americans sleep-deprived, Europeans better rested

It’s no secret that many Americans regularly clutch a cup of hot coffee to get through another sleep-deprived day. Far fewer Europeans are downing espresso shots to fight daytime sleepiness according to a research abstract that was the subject of a presentation at SLEEP 2010 in San Antonio.

The study found 19.5 percent of adults in America have moderate to excessive sleepiness. A previous study by the same head researcher found excessive daytime sleepiness in five European countries was significantly less – only 15 percent.

11 percent of U.S. participants reported severe sleepiness. In this case there were far more women than men.

The study involved interviewing a representative cross-section of residents in Texas, New York and California. The 8,937 participants answered a phone survey on sleeping habits, health, sleep problems and mental disorders.

Nearly 18 percent said they fell asleep or were drowsy in situations requiring a high level of concentration, including work meetings and conversations.

The likelihood of daytime sleepiness tripled for people with obstructive sleep apnea. Survey respondents who slept six hours or less or were diagnosed with insomnia were 2.5 times as likely to report sleepiness. Night shift workers and people with major depressive disorder were nearly twice as likely to be drowsy.

Learn where in America people are getting the least sleep according to the CDC.

Stanford NCAA football players sleep longer, perform better

The Stanford Cardinal is learning sleep may be the key factor in gaining the upper hand in the increasingly competitive Pac-10 college football conference.

A group of football players at Stanford University ran faster and responded quicker when two more hours of sleep were added to their daily training regimen.

The findings are the latest to show sleep can help athletic performance. Lead author Cheri Mah turned her attention to football after demonstrating similar benefits for basketball, tennis, swimming and other sports.

The research abstract for “Sleep extension and athletic performance in collegiate football” is on display Tuesday at SLEEP 2010.

Seven team members who played various positions began the study by sleeping normal hours for the first couple weeks of the season. Then for seven to eight weeks, they slept in as long as possible.

The players’ times dropped significantly in the 40-yard-dash and the 20-yard-shuffle. Both drills are commonly used to evaluate football players at the college level and in the NFL Scouting Combine.

The researchers also monitored the players’ moods and daytime sleepiness. Both scores also improved along with the athletes’ vigor.

Mah advises athletes to extend sleep several weeks before competition, maintain a low sleep debt and keep a regular sleep schedule. Brief naps are also helpful, especially when drowsy.

Some NBA teams are beginning to recognize they can gain an advantage by accommodating for sleep. The 2010 Eastern Conference Champion Boston Celtics are among the teams that practice in the afternoon instead of the morning.

12-hour shifts take strong toll on nurses, raise mistake risk

Continuing on the theme this morning the negative effects irregular work schedules can have on employees, a new study seemingly condemns a common practice in the medical industry. The results could give hospitals incentive to change scheduling strategies to avoid potentially life-threatening mistakes.

The study found nurses who work 12-hour shifts rarely get restful sleep, and may struggle to keep an attentive eye on patients.

Half of nurses who took vigilance tests tended to have multiple lapses in alertness. The lapses were moderate for 39 percent and frequent for seven percent of nurses who worked lengthy shifts. Factors included sleep prior to shift, caffeine use and fatigue levels.

The amount of sleep nurses gets between 12-hour shifts is alarming. The average sleep time is only 5.5 hours. It gets worse for night-shift nurses, who slept a fragmented 5.2 hours a day.

“With long commutes and family responsibilities, nurses have very little opportunity to rest between shifts,” said Jeanne Geiger-Brown, PhD, principal investigator of the study.

Signs indicate the nurses may suffer from shift work disorder, a form of insomnia caused by work hours that are scheduled during the natural human sleep period.

The study involved 80 registered nurses who worked three consecutive 12-hour shifts. Lapses and median reaction times were measured with the five-minute Palm Psychomotor Vigilance Test.

The abstract associated with this research will be available for viewing Tuesday at SLEEP 2010, the 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC.

Image by Christiana Care

Late-starting shifts harm sleep, limit productivity

The key to maximizing workplace productivity while minimizing fatigue may be a shift start time that allows workers to sleep right before reporting for duty.

New research suggests shifts that start in the late morning to early afternoon work best for employees. Start times between 8 p.m. and 12 a.m. may limit sleep and harm performance.

Sleep can be difficult to come by during the late night shifts because the timing conflicts with the body’s early evening circadian process.

According to the findings employers would benefit by rescheduling shift starting times to maximize employee alertness and sleep. Lead investigator Angela Bowen suggests a change in public policy may be necessary. Government regulations that limit the number of hours worked would also include provisions for shift start times.

“Shifts of equal duration differ in how fatiguing they are depending on the time of day when they are scheduled,” said Bowen. “The same limitation on the number of duty hours may be either overly restrictive if during the day or too liberal if during the night.”

The study used a mathematical formula based on a sleep regulation model that predicts the effects of sleep and wake times on sleep quality and waking fatigue. The researchers used the formula to see the effects of 24 start times, each varying by one-hour increments. The hypothetical work schedule lasted six days. Each shift was nine hours and started at the same time each day.

For those with no choice but to start their shifts during the undesirable late evening hours, the key is to find a sleep schedule that works. Past studies have suggested overnight workers go to sleep in the late morning hours immediately after work and wake up before the start of the early evening peak. On days off, it’s desirable to provide a compromise, by going to sleep at about 3 a.m.

Learn which professions are the worst for sleep.

Image by Shawn McClung

Day one of SLEEP 2010 concludes

The final session of oral presentations in the first full day of the SLEEP 2010 scientific are underway and will conclude at 5:00 p.m. Central Time.

Tomorrow’s program will begin at 8:00 a.m. Tuesday with a lecture by Dr. Daniel Buysse titled “New Adventures in Sleep Quality.” Dr. Buysse is the program director of the Neuroscience Clinical and Translational Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. His primary focus is on insomnia and sleep in depression.

Two invited lecturers will also deliver speeches:

“Sleep and Brain Plasticity: Past, Present and Future” by Marcos Frank, PhD

“What it Comes to Sleep, Are Women Really so Different from Men?” by Kathryn Lee, PhD, RN

Hundreds of more abstracts will be on display Tuesday on topics such as sleep deprivation and psychiatric and behavioral disorders.

Complete coverage will continue right here on the Sleepeducation blog tomorrow morning.