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People with poor objective sleep quality exhibit unfavourable physical health indicators, particularly elevated blood pressure, a study has found. Objective sleep quality consists not only of the total sleep duration, but also the amount of the different sleep stages, the duration of wake period, and the frequency of awakenings. Researchers from the University of Tsukuba in Japan conducted a comprehensive study involving 100 adults aged 3059 years by employing electroencephalogram (EEG) measurements to assess sleep quality for five nights at the participants' homes. Electroencephalography is a method to record an electrogram of the spontaneous electrical activity of the brain. Additionally, detailed health examinations were conducted at a health care facility in Tokyo. Ten sleep parameters derived from the EEG data collected during the five-night home study were used to categorise participants into three groupsnamely, the good sleep group (comprising 39 participants), the intermed
Use of sleep medication and inability to fall asleep quickly are associated with an increased risk of developing dementia over a 10 year period, according to a study. The research, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found a significant link between three measures of sleep disturbance and the risk for developing dementia, a neurodegenerative disease. The researchers associate sleep-initiation insomnia (trouble falling asleep within 30 minutes) and sleep medication use with higher risk for developing dementia. They also found that people who reported having sleep-maintenance insomnia (trouble falling back to sleep after waking) were less likely to develop dementia over the course of the study. "We expected sleep-initiation insomnia and sleep medication usage to increase dementia risk, but we were surprised to find sleep-maintenance insomnia decreased dementia risk," explained lead investigator Roger Wong, an Assistant Professor at SUNY Upstate Medical Universit
Lifestyle choices, increased stress levels, lack of sleep, nutritious food and exercise are primary causes of the rise in cases of heart attacks in relatively younger people, say experts. The recent case of comedian-actor Raju Srivastava (58) suffering a heart attack has put the issue in spotlight again. In May this year, noted singer KK (53) died of cardiac arrest after a concert in Kolkata. Last year, actors Siddharth Shukla (40), Puneeth Rajkumar (46), Amit Mistry (47) died due to cardiac arrest. Dr Nikhil Parchure, cardiologist at the Apollo Hospital in Navi Mumbai, told PTI that the heart attack rate has doubled in India in the last 20 years and more young people are now prone to it. He said 25 per cent of all heart attack cases are being seen in people below the age of 40. Smoking is the most important among other risk factors like diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol. Lifestyle choices, lack of sleep, nutritious food and exercise, and increased stress levels are .