Sleep News and Research

Latest Sleep News and Research

Study finds five distinct human sleep chronotypes

The familiar labels "night owl" and "early bird," long used in sleep research, don't fully capture the diversity of human internal clocks, a new study has found.

2 Feb 2026

Mouse study reveals mechanism driving first night insomnia

You check into a hotel and toss and turn all night, but your sleep improves the following night. Scientists at Nagoya University wanted to understand why this happens.

2 Feb 2026

Playing pink noise during sleep could be harmful for children

Pink noise-often used to promote sleep-may reduce restorative REM sleep and interfere with sleep recovery.

2 Feb 2026

Blood gene signals reveal Parkinson’s risk years before diagnosis

Blood-based DNA repair and stress-response signals reveal early molecular changes in Parkinson's disease, aiding in potential early diagnosis and intervention.

2 Feb 2026

Oxybutynin shows promise in managing hot flashes for prostate cancer patients

A national clinical trial led by the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology has found that oxybutynin, a drug often used to treat overactive bladder symptoms, reduces hot flashes compared to the placebo in men receiving hormone therapy for prostate cancer.

2 Feb 2026

Men develop premature heart disease earlier than women

The study uncovers critical insights into sex-based heart disease risks, highlighting young adulthood as key for effective cardiovascular health interventions.

2 Feb 2026

Two-thirds of adolescent IBS sufferers outgrow the condition by adulthood

Two out of three adolescents with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) start adulthood without the disease, according to a long-term study that followed more than 2,500 individuals.

2 Feb 2026

Do lifestyle choices affect university students' grades

Researchers examine the association between academic performance on secondary school exams and lifestyle behaviors among university students.

2 Feb 2026

Blurry line between medical and vision insurance leaves patient with unexpected bill

Barbara Tuszynski was concerned about her vision but confident in her insurance coverage when she went to an eye clinic last May.

30 Jan 2026

Biomarker discovery may pave the way for early diagnosis of Parkinson's

A team led by researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, has succeeded in identifying biomarkers for Parkinson's disease in its earliest stages, before extensive brain damage has occurred.

29 Jan 2026

Her son’s injury never got its day in vaccine court. Their lawyer is now advising RFK on its overhaul.

In 2019, after a routine vaccination, 11-year-old Keithron Thomas felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and down his arm. His mother, Melanie Bostic, thought it would go away after a few days. But days turned to weeks, then months, and years.

29 Jan 2026

Wake-promoting drug improves alertness in early morning shift workers

Many more people work very early morning shifts than overnight ones, and a large proportion struggle with excessive sleepiness from shift work disorder, leading to problems with focus, performance and safety.

29 Jan 2026

Eating melatonin-rich foods is linked to lower obesity and depression rates

This cross-sectional analysis of 8,320 Brazilian adults quantified melatonin intake from habitual diets and examined associations with multiple chronic health outcomes. Higher dietary melatonin intake was inversely associated with obesity and depression in a non-linear pattern, with no significant associations observed for other conditions.

28 Jan 2026

Newly discovered compound can advance the body's internal clock

A Japanese research team has discovered a new compound that can advance the body's internal clock—offering hope for faster recovery from jet lag and better adaptation to night-shift work.

28 Jan 2026

Exploring the link between devices and adolescent sleep

New research in Brain & Behavior found a link between screen time and adolescents' sleep quality and beliefs about healthy lifestyles.

28 Jan 2026

'Evening people' more likely to have poor cardiovascular health

Middle-aged and older adults who were more active in the evenings had poorer cardiovascular health compared to their peers who were more active during the day.

28 Jan 2026

Study isolates mania-specific genetic architecture in bipolar disorder

Researchers at King's College London and the University of Florence have, for the first time, identified the specific genetic blueprint of mania, the defining feature of bipolar disorder.

27 Jan 2026

Sleeping without pillows may help reduce nighttime eye pressure in glaucoma

Sleeping without pillows may help lower high internal eye pressure, build-up of which causes optic nerve damage and glaucoma-the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide–in people with the condition, suggests preliminary research, published online in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

27 Jan 2026

How modern lifestyles reprogram the gut microbiome and shape disease risk

Modern lifestyle factors such as circadian disruption, sleep deprivation, stress, and exercise reshape the gut bacteriome and its metabolic outputs. These microbiome changes are linked to immune, metabolic, and cancer-related pathways, largely through evidence from animal models and observational human studies.

27 Jan 2026

Menopause associated with reduced brain volume and increased anxiety symptoms

Menopause is linked to reductions in grey matter volume in key brain regions as well as increased levels of anxiety and depression and difficulties with sleep, according to new research from the University of Cambridge.

27 Jan 2026