People sleep significantly better and feel more alert during the day  if they get at least 150 minutes of exercise a week, a new study  concludes.

A nationally representative sample of more than 2,600 men and women,  ages 18-85, found that 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a  week, which is the national guideline, provided a 65% improvement in  sleep quality. People also said they felt less sleepy during the day,  compared to those with less physical activity.

The study, out in the December issue of the journal Mental  Health and Physical Activity, lends more evidence to mounting  research showing the importance of exercise to a number of health  factors. Read the rest of this entry

University of Chicago scientists have dovered important new relationships between obesity, sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and cognitive processing among elementary school children.

“The intricate interdependencies between BMI, SDB and cognition shown in our study are of particular importance in children, as their brains are still rapidly developing,” says study author Karen Spruyt, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the Pritzer School of Medicine. “Rising rates of obesity in children may amplify these relationships. Public health campaigns targeting obesity should emphasize not only the health benefits but the potential educational benefits of losing weight.”

The findings were published online ahead of print publication in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Read the rest of this entry

A new computer screening tool developed and patented by a UB physician is helping to detect severe obstructive sleep apnea in cardiovascular patients who have not yet been diagnosed with this common and potentially dangerous condition.

The study, funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, is being conducted by a UB researcher at the Veterans Affairs Western New York Healthcare System.

The goal is to evaluate how well the computer screening tool developed at UB diagnoses sleep apnea in patients with heart disease, compared to an overnight sleep study, or polysomnography, considered the ‘gold standard’ for diagnosing sleep apnea.

“The importance of this grant is that it may give us a faster way to screen for sleep apnea in patients who are already at high risk but who are undiagnosed,” says principal investigator Ali A. El Solh, professor of medicine, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and professor of social and preventive medicine, School of Public Health and Health Professions. Read the rest of this entry

Obese, asthmatic, anxious or depressed children are more likely to experience excessive daytime sleepiness, or EDS, according to Penn State College of Medicine sleep researchers.

“Although excessive daytime sleepiness in children is commonly assumed by physicians and the public to be the result of sleep-disordered breathing or inadequate sleep, our data suggest that EDS in young children is more strongly associated with obesity and mood issues as it is in adults,” said Edward Bixler, professor of psychiatry and vice chair of research at the Sleep Research and Treatment Center.

Excessive daytime sleepiness is the inability to stay awake during the day, while sleep-disordered breathing is a group of disorders that includes sleep apnea, characterized by pauses in breathing. Read the rest of this entry

Just a month ago, the FDA approved the use of the Lap-Band® weight loss surgery procedure for patients with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or over that also suffered from obesity related diseases (comorbidities) such as type II diabetes, high cholesterol high blood pressure and sleep apnea. This loosening of the qualification guidelines for Lap-Band® surgery will have a profound effect on New Jersey residents who are seeking to undergo bariatric surgery in the future. Before this announcement, only patients with BMIs of 40 or more with no comorbidities or BMIs of 35 or more with one or more comorbidities could qualify.  A BMI of 30 or over qualifies a person as obese while 40 or over is considered severely obese.

The new regulations have opened up bariatric surgery as a weight loss option for thousands of New Jersey residents who would not have qualified for bariatric surgery under the old guidelines. According to the Centers for Disease Control 23.9% of New Jersey residents had a BMI greater than or equal to 30. As an example, while a typical 5’9” male with comorbidities needed to weight 237 lbs to qualify under the old criteria, they now only need to weigh 203 lbs. Read the rest of this entry

In a recently concluded two-phase randomized clinical trial comparing two approaches to maintaining weight loss following guided weight loss researchers found inter-relationship of sleep and stress. Phase I provided a nonrandomized intensive 6-month behavioral weight loss intervention to 472 obese (body mass index 30–50) adult participants. Phase II is the randomized weight loss maintenance portion of the study. This research focuses on aspects of sleep, screen time, depression and stress.

The Phase I intervention consisted of 22 group sessions led over 26 weeks by behavioral counselors. Recommendations included reducing dietary intake by 500 calories per day, adopting the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) dietary pattern and increasing physical exercise to at least 180?min per week. Measures reported here are sleep time, insomnia, screen time, depression and stress at entry and post-weight loss intervention follow-up. Read the rest of this entry

Obesity is associated with obstructive sleep apnea in the adult and pediatric population. The aim of a recently concluded research study was to assess the association between increasing body mass index on the severity of obstructive sleep apnea in children.

We reviewed retrospectively 740 children with symptoms suggestive of obstructive sleep apnea who underwent a sleep study at an inner
city university hospital. Obstructive sleep apnea was defined as respiratory disturbance index of 5 per hour or more. Statistical analysis included chi square test and regression analysis. Read the rest of this entry

People with fibromyalgia who are also obese have greater sensitivity to pain, more impaired sleep,sleep disorders like obstructive sleep apnea, and less physical strength than their non-obese counterparts, according to new findings from a prospective study.

“Obesity seems to be a big barrier to fibromyalgia patients getting better,” said lead author Akiko Okifuji, PhD, professor in the Department of Anesthesiology’s Pain Research and Management Center at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City (J Pain 2010;11:1329-1337).

Previous research demonstrated that in the United States, obese individuals generally have a heightened sensitivity to nociceptive pain and a higher frequency of painful conditions, such as headache and back pain (e.g., Psychiatry Res 1983;8:119-125), and as many as 75% of patients with fibromyalgia are overweight or obese. Although the current study did not address why the correlation between weight and pain exists, the investigators concluded that weight reduction interventions may be pivotal to treating fibromyalgia. Read the rest of this entry

Current screening for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) emphasizes self-reported snoring and other breathing symptoms. Nocturia, a symptom with a precise pathophysiological link to sleep apnea, has not been assessed as a screening tool for this common disorder of sleep respiration. In a large sample of adults presenting to area sleep centers, we aimed to determine the predictive power of nocturia for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)and compare findings with other markers of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) commonly used to screen for this disease. Read the rest of this entry

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common disorder in modern society and closely associated with obesity. Because Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) increases the likelihood of complications in the perioperative period, preoperative recognition is very important for bariatric patients.

Polysomnography (PSG) remains the gold standard for diagnosis, but it is a time-consuming and expensive examination. Researchers therefore aimed at identifying practical clinical predictors of Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) for bariatric patients.

Performing polysomnography (sleep study) prior to pediatric adenotonsillectomy (surgical removal of the tonsils and adenoids) may help identify children at a higher risk of developing postoperative respiratory complications, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Otolaryngology – Head Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

“Pediatric adenotonsillectomy is a safe outpatient procedure; however, there is a subset of patients who do not meet the criteria for outpatient surgery,” according to background information in the article. Guidelines for adenotonsillectomy, established by the American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, recommend that children should be healthy, have no evidence of obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (recurring episodes of obstruction or collapse of the upper airway during sleep) and be older than 3 years. Read the rest of this entry

A new study has revealed that people with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a sleep disorder associated with obesity, have more non-calcified or “bad” plaque in their coronary arteries. 

“Our study reveals that individuals with obstructive sleep apnea are prone to developing an aggressive form of atherosclerosis that puts them at risk for impaired blood flow and cardiovascular events,” said U Joseph Schoepf, director of cardiovascular imaging at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, S.C. 

OSA is caused by obstruction of the upper airway during sleep and is characterized by periodic pauses in breathing, which last for 10 or more seconds. OSA is also commonly associated with snoring.  Read the rest of this entry

BMI stands for Body Mass Index and is calculated using your height and weight, a screening tool to identify weight problems. BMI is a fairly reliable indicator of body fat for most adults, with the exception of athletes and the elderly.

The formula used is: [weight in pounds ÷ ( height in inches ) x ( height in inches)] x 703. An easier way to calculate is to go to an online calculator such as The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at: nhlbisupport.com/bmi/.

There are four categories to interpret BMI for adults 20 years and older:

· Underweight = less than 18.5

· Normal weight = 18.5 24.9

· Overweight = 25 29.9

· Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater

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In a recently concluded research the researchers aimed to estimate the population prevalence of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) in an urban community of German third graders (age range 7.3–12.4 yrs) and the diagnostic test accuracy of two OSA screening methods.

Using a cross-sectional study design with a multi-stage sampling strategy, 27 out of 59 primary schools within the city limits of Hanover, Germany, were selected. 1,144 third graders were screened for symptoms and signs of OSA using questionnaires and nocturnal home pulse oximetry. 183 children underwent abbreviated nocturnal home polysomnography (OSA definition: apnoea/hypopnoea index ?1) and 22 were diagnosed to suffer from OSA. Read the rest of this entry