Here’s the sleep news for this week:
Less sleep can cause worse migraine symptoms
15% of people ages 15 to 64 report migraines, and there are few answers about what causes or worsens symptoms. A small study published in the July issue of “Clinical Neurophysiology” found that, in a study of 46 adults from ages 18 to 65, decreased sleep increased migraine frequency. The compromised sleep also increased the severity of symptoms including photophobia, phonophobia, and osmophobia.
Melatonin poisoning reports are up in kids
Last year the U.S. poison control centers saw more than 52,000 calls about children ingesting dangerously high doses of melatonin, about 6 times the level reported 10 years ago. A study published by the CDC on Thursday, June 2, 2022, looked at melatonin reports made between 2012 and 2021. Researchers saw that melatonin calls jumped from making up 0.6% of total calls to 5%, perhaps aligned with the increased availability of melatonin on the market. In about 83% of these calls children showed no symptoms, however over 4,000 kids were hospitalized.
How sleep can build your memory
A conceptual study published in the “Journal of Neuroscience” underscores the value of sleep for improving and creating new relational memories. Relational memory is the ability to associate otherwise indirect links, such as names with faces, or locations where you’d parked the car. The study used a model of the brain to gauge habits during sleep. Researchers are hopeful these insights can inform research around schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder.
Bed sharing versus sleeping alone
While most adults share a bed, whether bed sharing is beneficial to you depends on who you’re sharing with. A new study published in “Sleep” last week explored whether sleeping with a partner or a child is beneficial to sleep quality. What researchers found was that while sharing a bed with a partner is beneficial to mental health and sleep quality, bed sharing with a child led to worse overall sleep. Additionally, they found that adults who sleep alone had higher depression scores as well as lower relationship satisfaction.
SLEEP annual conference is happening this weekend
SLEEP, an annual meeting that provides education on the science and clinical practice of sleep medicine, kicks off this Saturday in Charlotte, North Carolina. The 36th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (comprising the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society), the conference is a time when researchers and sleep professionals share research findings and breakthrough practices in patient treatment.
In sleep-centric social media...
Can’t we all just respect naptime? TikTok user @BillyVSCO left us cracking up with this one.
