Sleep Disorder News and Research

RSS

A sleep disorder (somnipathy) is a medical disorder of the sleep patterns of a person or animal. Some sleep disorders are serious enough to interfere with normal physical, mental and emotional functioning. A test commonly ordered for some sleep disorders is the polysomnogram.

Breakthrough in predicting Parkinson’s and dementia in people with REM sleep behavior disorder

An international research team led by Université de Montréal medical professor Shady Rahayel has made a major breakthrough in predicting neurodegenerative diseases.

26 Sep 2025

UdeM studies make a major breakthrough in predicting neurodegenerative diseases

An international research team led by Université de Montréal medical professor Shady Rahayel has made a major breakthrough in predicting neurodegenerative diseases.

25 Sep 2025

Lifestyle choices and irregular sleep patterns drive weekend spike in OSA severity

Late nights, alcohol, and smoking on weekends may be doing more than disrupting your Monday mornings, they could be triggering a newly identified sleep health concern known as 'social apnea', warn researchers from Flinders University.

13 Aug 2025

Conch shell blowing lowers apnea events during REM sleep

Shankh blowing shows promise in alleviating sleep apnea, with significant improvements in sleep quality and reductions in daytime sleepiness after six months.

13 Aug 2025

Study finds two-way link between gut bacteria and insomnia

There seem to be reciprocal links between certain groups of gut bacteria and the risk of insomnia, suggests a Mendelian randomization study, published in the open access journal General Psychiatry.

12 Aug 2025

Ancient shankh blowing practice found to improve sleep and alertness in OSA patients

People who practised blowing through a conch shell regularly for six months experienced a reduction in their symptoms of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), according to a small randomised controlled trial published today (Monday) in ERJ Open Research.

10 Aug 2025

Can probiotics help you sleep better?

A new meta-analysis shows that probiotic supplements can modestly improve sleep quality and reduce depressive symptoms in people with insomnia, with no significant safety concerns. However, effects on total sleep time and sleep efficiency remain uncertain, and evidence strength varies across outcomes.

20 Jul 2025

Insomnia may be the missing link between ADHD and low life satisfaction

Insomnia could explain why adults with ADHD traits report having a lower quality of life, according to new research led by the University of Southampton and the Netherlands Institute of Neuroscience.

15 Jul 2025

Bayesian neural networks advance understanding of gut microbe metabolism

Gut bacteria are known to be a key factor in many health-related concerns. However, the number and variety of them is vast, as are the ways in which they interact with the body's chemistry and each other.

7 Jul 2025

Targeting a key enzyme could reverse early Parkinson's effects

Putting the brakes on an enzyme might rescue neurons that are dying due to a type of Parkinson's disease that's caused by a single genetic mutation, according to a new Stanford Medicine-led study conducted in mice.

2 Jul 2025

FDA-approved drug may help restore breathing in obesity-related sleep disorder

Researchers from the George Washington University have uncovered promising evidence in an animal study that shows setmelanotide, an FDA-approved medication for a rare genetic obesity disorder, may offer a pathway for treating a life-threatening form of sleep-disordered breathing called Obesity Hypoventilation Syndrome.

17 Jun 2025

Sleep disorders predict dementia risk years before diagnosis, study shows

Researchers analyzed health records from over 1 million people in Finland, Wales, and the UK to assess the long-term impact of sleep disorders on neurodegenerative diseases. They found that diagnosed sleep disorders can predict Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and dementia risk up to 15 years before symptoms, regardless of genetic predisposition.

28 May 2025

Longer time in bed after stroke linked to poorer brain health

After a mild stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), people who spend more time in bed sleeping or trying to sleep may be more likely to have lower scores on tests of thinking and memory skills and changes in their brains that can lead to dementia or second strokes, according to a study published on May 28, 2025, online in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

28 May 2025

Personality traits influence risk and persistence of insomnia

A study conducted at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil examined the influence of personality traits on the development and perpetuation of insomnia and found that there is a direct relationship between the two.

19 May 2025

Study links sleep apnea to damage in brain areas critical for memory

Obstructive sleep apnea, a condition that causes lower oxygen levels during sleep, is linked to degeneration of brain regions associated with memory through damage to the brain's small blood vessels, according to a study published May 7, 2025, online in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

7 May 2025

Sleep fragmentation in diabetes triggers lasting liver damage and cardiovascular risk

This new article publication from Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B, discusses how diabetes-associated sleep fragmentation impairs liver and heart function via SIRT1-dependent epigenetic modulation of NADPH oxidase 4.

14 Apr 2025

Early CPAP treatment may reduce Parkinson's disease risk in people with sleep apnea

People with obstructive sleep apnea have an increased risk of Parkinson's disease, but if started early enough, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) may reduce that risk, according to a preliminary study released today, March 2, 2025, that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 77th Annual Meeting taking place April 5–9, 2025, in San Diego and online.

2 Mar 2025

Understanding the causes and symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea

Do you feel tired or have a headache when you wake up in the morning? Something might be going wrong while you sleep that you don't know about: obstructive sleep apnea (pronounced app-nee-uh).

24 Feb 2025

AI-enhanced algorithm improves diagnosis of REM sleep behavior disorder

A Mount Sinai-led team of researchers has enhanced an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered algorithm to analyze video recordings of clinical sleep tests, ultimately improving accurate diagnosis of a common sleep disorder affecting more than 80 million people worldwide.

9 Jan 2025