This week in sleep news:
Sleep and aging dogs
Sleep is just as important to man’s best friend. Owners of dogs with canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome (a canine equivalent to Alzheimer’s disease) report that their dogs suffer from difficulty sleeping. A new study in Frontiers in Veterinary Science looked to measure age-related changes in the sleep-wake cycle in senior dogs and to correlate them with the dogs’ cognitive performance.
To do this, researchers performed polysomnographic (sleep study) recordings on 28 senior dogs during a two-hour afternoon nap. Then they measured the percentage of time spent in wakefulness, drowsiness, NREM, and REM sleep, as well as the amount of time it takes to transition to the three sleep states. They measured cognitive performance through a series of cognitive tests and questionnaires. The results of these tests showed that dogs with higher dementia scores and with worse performance in a problem-solving task spent less time in NREM and REM sleep.
This shows that polysomnographic recordings in dogs can detect sleep-wakefulness cycle changes associated with dementia. Going forward, further studies are needed to evaluate polysomnography’s potential clinical use to monitor the progression of canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome.
Black cumin extract may help with sleep
A study published in the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science looked at the impact of black cumin on lowering stress and therefore improving sleep satisfaction. Scientists split 72 people into two groups: one that took a placebo for 90 days and one that took 200 mg of black cumin oil extract per day for 90 days. The data showed that the group taking the extract experienced significant improvements in sleep latency, duration, quality, and efficiency as well as daytime functioning. In fact, 70% of those who took the extract saw improvement after day seven, and 79% saw improvement after day 14. They also saw an increase of melatonin in the cumin oil extract group. This was a small novelty study, so a large study needs to be done to further corroborate these findings.
Cigarette use linked to obstructive sleep apnea
New results of a cross-sectional study published in Archives of Public Health show that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is more common in cigarette smokers. While other studies have already shown that people who are male and have obesity are most at risk, this study shed light on another important risk factor. Researchers found that while conventional cigarette usage alone puts you at higher risk, those who are most at risk are those who use both e-cigarettes and conventional cigarettes. However, scientists found no significant difference in the prevalence of OSA between e-cigarette smokers and nonsmokers.
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