The real Freddy Krueger, “Nightmare on Elm Street” and sudden unexplained deaths

He visits us in our nightmares. The ghoul wearing a striped shirt and fedora slowly taps his razor-sharp finger knives as he approaches. Anyone who grew up in the 80’s knows his sneering burnt face. Freddy Krueger is a horror movie icon, representing everything we fear in our sleep.

Today a new generation meets the boogeyman for the first time. The remake of “Nightmare on Elm Street” is now open in theaters nationwide.

The movie is getting panned by most major critics. This blogger recommends instead checking out the 1984 original, or the self-aware follow-up "Wes Craven’s New Nightmare," where Freddy haunts the actors and crew behind the first film.

The franchise is about a child murderer who was burned alive by a mob of angry parents and returns to haunt their teenage children in their dreams.

Director Wes Craven reportedly came up with the premise after reading in the news about a group of young Cambodian refugees who, haunted by terrifying nightmares, refused to sleep. The group had escaped the countries genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, only to face those same fears in their dreams while safe in America. This is where it gets chilling -when they gave in and returned to sleep, they died.

Craven described his reaction to the article he read in the Los Angeles Times:

In the middle of the night they heard these horrendous screams and crashings and they ran in and he’s thrashing on the bed. They ran to him and by the time they got to him he was dead. They did an autopsy on him and there was nothing physically wrong with him. And I just thought: “My God.”

Researchers believe the deaths were caused by a mysterious disorder called sudden unexplained death nocturnal syndrome. Otherwise healthy men from Southeast Asian countries ages 20 to 45 years old suddenly die in their sleep.

Some in Thailand and the Philippines believe the incidents are supernatural. A spirit comes to kill them by sitting on their chests while they sleep. This belief is not unlike the “Nightmare on Elm Street” antagonist. To avoid the spectral threat, some Thai men would disguise themselves as women.

Though researchers have offered a variety of hypothesis over the last few decades, none have held up. Many have not been disproven either. Relatives of some of the victims describe hearing a sudden gasp for air, before they died.

In “Nightmare on Elm Street,” the victims tried to stay awake to avoid Freddy Krueger’s nightmare assaults. Coming up Sunday morning on the blog, find out what doctors say they should have done instead.

Image courtesy New Line Cinema

The Ambien excuse, Delta flight threat suspect took sleeping pills

A former Air Force intelligence specialist is in custody undergoing competency tests, after he told air marshals he was carrying explosives in his boots, backpack and laptop. The incident caused a Delta flight bound from Paris to Atlanta to make an emergency landing in Maine.

Court documents obtained by CNN claim the suspect Derek Stansberry told the air marshals that he had taken eight tablets of the sleeping drug Ambien along with some valium. When he was later interviewed by the FBI he changed his story. He claimed he took only one Ambien.

The commonly-used hypnotic continues to be the scapegoat for strange and even dangerous behavior. Chances are the media will speculate this week's Delta incident will be blamed on Ambien sleepwalking

Earlier this month, a Fox News affiliate asked the question “is ambien creating a nation of zombies.”

The AASM recognizes Ambien as a safe and effective short-term solution to insomnia, if used as prescribed. However, it appears the Air Force vet who made the threat misused the drug by taking eight pills and combining them with valium.

To learn more about the sleeping drug, and other treatments for insomnia go to the Ambien section of our blog.

"Snooze or Lose": Dr. Oz's sleep quiz

Television's Dr. Oz is back talking about sleep this week. This time the discussion came in the form of a contest named "Snooze or Lose." Two contestents tucked into beds on set were grilled on basic sleep questions. Watch the entire segment here:





As we always do with Dr. Oz., let’s take a look at the facts for each of the three “true or false” questions. Unlike one of the last times we blogged about his show, his advice is spot on.

“If you cut back on the sleep you need by just one hour, your body will adjust.” As Dr. Oz indicated, the statement is simply not true. The body will not adjust, and as the sleep debt racks up so will the negative effects of sleep deprivation. We recommend at least 7 hours of sleep per night.

Doctor Oz. is also correct in dismissing the statement “A handful of trail mix before bed will help you sleep better.” Its true protein can make it difficult to sleep. We don’t recommend eating before bed, but if you must eat, choose a light carbohydrate-based snack like cereal or granola.

The third statement , "Poor sleep can leads to diabetes" is accurate. Research shows the risk of getting type 2 diabetes goes up if you get less than seven hours per night. The chances rise significantly if you sleep for five hours or less. This is because poor sleep alters the way the body metabolizes the blood sugar glucose. People with type 2 diabetes have difficulty turning the glocuse into energy, due problems with insulin.

Another common factor between poor sleep and diabetes is obesity. Most people with diabetes are overweight. Sleep loss greatly increases your risk of obesity.

Fatal familial insomnia: a genetic death sentence

There are genetic diseases and then there is fatal familial insomnia. It’s an excruciating death sentence with no cure and no treatments. Doctors can’t even temporarily relieve the suffering caused by months without sleep. For the unlucky few on this earth who inherit fatal familial insomnia conscience reality is no different than dreams and nightmares.

Little is known about fatal familial insomnia. The research is limited to its rare occurrences. Only about 40 families in the world are known to carry the genetic mutation linked to the disorder. For those families, their curse is a dark secret, a time bomb set to detonate sometime mid-life.

Fatal familial insomnia is a prion disease, the same classification as mad cow disease. The genetic mutations cause abnormal proteins to build up in the brain, destroying nerve cells and leaving sponge-like holes.

It’s a progressive disease. At first the symptoms resemble insomnia. Then it causes profuse sweating, accelerated breathing and heart rate and fever. Soon the sleep cycle breaks down, and the boundaries blur between wakefulness, REM sleep, and short-wave sleep. Death occurs after eight to 72 months, either due to a secondary infection or coma.

The disease can be traced back to 18th century Venice to a wealthy and respected doctor, educated by the disciples of Galileo, known as Subject Zero. In his book ‘The Family That Couldn’t Sleep’, Author D.T. Max wrote the doctor found he could stay up all night playing cards or studying medicine. He started sweating more and more, his servants would bring him fresh shirts every day. Months later, he was dead.

His children shared the curse. For each of them, it started with the typical symptoms of insomnia: trouble getting to sleep, and waking up early. That never stopped. Then there were cognitive problems not unlike dementia. By the ninth month of not sleeping, they were dead.

For centuries, this mysterious pattern would repeat itself. Once a prosperous family, Subject Zero’s descendents fell on hard times, poorer and unable to marry because the community learned word of the strange deaths.

Some migrated to other parts of Italy and Europe. Others went to America.

Scientific researchers discovered fatal familial insomnia in the 1980’s, when a descendent of the family named Silvano checked into the sleep clinic at Italy’s Bologna University.

Silvano, once an energetic playboy in his early 50’s, who never had any problem sleeping, suddenly took on the appearance of a sickly old man. His motor skills were staggered and his brain function was unusual. Silvano was neither asleep nor awake.

National Geographic obtained video from the clinic:

Silvano offered his brain to researchers after he slipped into a coma and died. Most of what we know today about fatal familial insomnia is because of Silvano’s offer.

Learn more about fatal familial insomnia on sleepeducation.com.

iPad insomnia: Amazon Kindle better for your sleep than Apple tablet

With a nearly limitless library of books available for instant download, the Apple iPad is a tempting purchase for literature lovers.

There’s just one small deal-breaker: it’s bad for bedtime reading.

The device’s bright, colorful screen can get in the way of bedtime habits and encourage insomnia.

Over the weekend Frisca Yan-Go, director of the AASM certified UCLA Sleep Disorders Center, told the Los Angeles Times books won’t mess with your sleep cycle like the iPad.

“Light-emitting devices, including cell phones and yep, the iPad, tell the brain to stay alert. Because users hold those devices so close to their face, staring directly into the light, the effect is amplified compared with, say, a TV across the room or a bedside lamp, said Frisca Yan-Go, director of the UCLA Sleep Disorders Center in Santa Monica.”

So using the iPad as an eReader isn’t much different than using a laptop or watching TV in bed, both habits we recommend against.

eReaders like the Amazon Kindle, appear to be a better alternative because they don’t give off light. The gadgets e-paper, a Sony developed technology that imitates the printed page.

AASM member and UCLA Neurology Clinic Director Alon Avidan also cautioned against using electronic gadgets before bed in an email to the Los Angeles Times. He did say however, that the Kindle is better for your sleep.