During the tranquil one-third of our lives that we spend asleep, the human body does something that might not seem restful at all: REM sleep, short for rapid eye movement, is a phase of sleep that consumes 90 to 120 minutes of an adult human's day and as much as nine whole hours for a newborn baby. …
The only way I can fall asleep is if I look and sound like Darth Vader, at least in my mind — and my doctor supports that. This is not some strange cosplay fantasy. I'm merely one among millions of Americans who needs to use a machine known as the CPAP (short for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) …
A study purporting to find the optimal hour to go to bed in order to prevent negative health outcomes is making the rounds in the media this week — and though it speaks to the relationship between good sleep and overall health, the study's volunteer composition raises questions around who has the …
You should turn in early tonight. Grab a quick nap this afternoon, if you can. Sleep is for winners. In the aftermath of beleaguered media company Ozy's recent spectacular — if not entirely unsurprising — implosion, the site's content remains intact. There's a video of economist Noreena Hertz urging …
For decades, scientists have suspected that there is a connection between poor sleep and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease. People with Alzheimer’s often have low quality sleep, and the same thing has been found in animals with the disease. Similarly, older adults who slept for …
While you sleep, the brain forgets. But, until recently it was not clear how the brain decides to forget. Scientists analyze sleep by measuring the electrical activity of neurons near the outer layer of the brain. By quantifying brainwave changes, scientists have already determined sleep is not just …
The serious consequences of sleep deprivation perennially capture society’s attention. And, as kids head back to school, sleep and a lack of it are of particular concern. Compared to historical norms, how have our contemporary expectations of sleep changed? What are the effects of inadequate sleep? …
When a recent study carried out by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York showed how the brain uses sleep to flush the cerebrospinal fluid present in the extracellular space and rid itself of toxic molecules, it raised the debate again about the importance of sleep in …
