Sleep Disorder Symptoms for National Sleep Awareness Week

The annual National Sleep Awareness Week begins today. It ends next weekend when we set our clocks ahead one hour for daylight saving time.

You’re probably aware of common sleep problems such as insomnia, nightmares and snoring. But there are many other sleep disorders that can affect your sleep and your health.

Here are some of the symptoms of other sleep disorders:

• Loud snoring, silent pauses & snorting: Loud snoring is a common warning sign for obstructive sleep apnea. The snoring ends with a silent pause when breathing stops. Then a choking or snorting sound occurs when breathing resumes.


• Grinding teeth: Grinding or clenching your teeth during sleep is a symptom of bruxism. It can damage your teeth and cause jaw discomfort or pain. The sound also can disturb the sleep of your bed partner.


• Jittery legs: Having a strong urge to move your legs while resting is a sign of restless legs syndrome. This urge to move the legs grows worse at night and eases in the morning.


• Frequent leg or toe movements: The repeated flexing or tightening of a leg or toe during sleep is a sign of periodic limb movement disorder. The movements can disrupt your sleep and disturb your bed partner.


• Sudden collapse: “Cataplexy” is a unique symptom of narcolepsy. It involves a sudden loss of muscle tone while you are awake. Your head may drop, or your knees may buckle. You may completely fall out on the floor. Episodes of cataplexy tend to be triggered by a strong emotion such as laughter or surprise.


• Temporary paralysis: Being unable to move as you are waking up or falling asleep is a sign of recurrent isolated sleep paralysis. It may feel like an unseen weight is on you. Sleep paralysis also can be a symptom of narcolepsy.


• Nightly binge eating: Compulsive binge eating that occurs during the night is a sign of sleep related eating disorder. The eating tends to occur when you are only partially awake. You may wake up in the morning and discover that half-eaten food is scattered all over the place.


• Violent dream behavior: People with REM sleep behavior disorder act out vivid, action-packed dreams while they sleep. They may shout, punch, kick, run and even jump out a window. Injuries may occur to the dreamer or a bedpartner.


• Head banging: Head banging, body rocking and head rolling in bed are signs of sleep related rhythmic movement disorder. It is common in healthy infants and children.

Get help for these and other sleep disorders at an AASM-accredited sleep center near you.

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Dr. Oz: Rejuvenate While you Sleep

According to Dr. Oz, making small changes to your bedtime routine can help you maintain or restore your youth while you sleep.

Dr. Oz notes that everyone has some sort of bedtime routine they follow each night. By adding some of the steps below, you might be able to slow or even reverse the effects of aging.

1. Wash your face with gentle soap that hydrates and exfoliates.

2. Use a moisturizer that contains vitamin A to avoid and erase wrinkles.

3. Use a humidifier to keep your skin well-hydrated.

4. Keep a glass of water next to your bed so you don’t have to get up if you are thirsty.

5. Take half of your vitamins in the morning and half at night so they stay in your system all day.

Taking the time to enhance your sleep routine and nighttime habits may increase the quality and quantity of your sleep.

Many Americans place sleep at the bottom of their priority list, and practice poor sleep hygiene.

Earlier this month, the Sleep Education Blog reported that making small changes to your bedroom and your bedtime routine can help improve your sleep.

AASM member Dr. Charles Czeisler recently told ABC News that "You need to set aside the time for sleep. You need a few hours to unwind before. It takes time for the brain to wind down."

Consult a board-certified sleep expert at an AASM-accredited sleep center if your problems continue after you have improved your sleep environment and bedtime routine.

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Getting Your Child to Sleep…Alone

Earlier this week on ABC, “Good Morning America” offered advice for parents whose children don’t like to sleep alone.

GMA correspondent Cameron Mathison went on a special assignment to tackle the issue. The location? His own house.


He and his wife Vanessa had been struggling to keep their two kids from sleeping in Mom and Dad’s bed. These co-sleeping parents would prefer to be sleeping solo. So family sleep therapist Jennifer Waldburger from Sleepy Planet came to the rescue.

She said that the whole family benefits when children learn to sleep well. Children who get enough sleep are smarter and happier, and they behave better.

“The benefits are huge,” Waldburger said. “As much as you love your kids now, you’re gonna’ love them even more when they are sleeping.”

She offered a variety of strategies to help parents who have this common problem. These included using morning rewards and having a “sleep party” in the children’s rooms.

After giving it a try, Cameron reports that they have had success for five days in a row.

“It worked!” he told GMA host George Stephanopoulos. “The point is they’re getting the sleep that they needed.”

Hundreds of viewers wrote the show with their own questions. Parenting expert Elizabeth Pantley answered some of these questions online.

Last month the Sleep Education Blog reported that “Living Well with Leisa” host Leisa Naples found a creative way to get her girls to wind down at night. She calls it “Family Spa Night.”

What about you? How have you taught your children to sleep in their own beds?

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Narcolepsy: Waking Up with a Nicotine Patch

Doctors at the AASM-accredited Vanderbilt Sleep Disorders Center recently described how they used a nicotine patch to help a teen who has narcolepsy. Their case report appeared last month in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

A 17-year-old student with narcolepsy was struggling to make it to school on time. He was often late even though his school allowed him to report at 10 a.m. As a result he failed two classes.

The problem was that he suffered from severe “sleep inertia” in the morning. He simply could not wake up. He would take at least an hour to get up from bed.

He was taking modafinil in the morning and at lunch to treat his excessive daytime sleepiness. The brand name for modafinil is Provigil.

The stimulant helped him remain alert at school. But he was unable to swallow the medication until he had awakened.

So his doctors instructed his parents to try giving him a nicotine patch in the morning. This is commonly used by people who want to quit smoking. A dose of nicotine enters the blood by being absorbed through the skin. The nicotine acts as a stimulant.

His parents applied a 14-mg nicotine patch to his arm about 20 minutes before it was time for him to wake up. Then after 20 minutes they woke him up and washed off his arm.

Using the patch allowed him to become alert enough to swallow his medication. Waking up at a consistent time helped stabilize his schedule. He was able to fall asleep easier at night. He also was able to avoid napping during the day.

This unique solution helped him arrive at school on time most days. He was able to participate in more events at school and eventually graduated.

You should talk to your doctor before using a nicotine patch. Contact an AASM-accredited sleep center for help with narcolepsy or another sleep disorder.

Read more about narcolepsy.

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Sleep Loss & Weight Gain: Genetic or Behavioral?

There is growing evidence linking chronic sleep loss with an increased risk of obesity. Short sleep durations are associated with higher body mass index (BMI) scores.

What is the nature of this relationship? Is it genetic? Environmental? Behavioral?

A new study provides some intriguing insight. The results were published last month in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

The study surveyed 612 pairs of twins. Each pair was raised together in the same household.

They had an average age of about 37 years. They reported their height, weight and habitual sleep duration.

Results show that 25 percent of participants reported sleeping less than seven hours per night. These short sleepers had a higher average BMI (26.0) than those with a typical sleep duration of seven to 8.9 hours per night (24.8).

An adult with a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 is considered to be at a “normal” weight. An adult who has a BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered to be “overweight.”

The results were confirmed in an analysis of 423 monozygotic pairs. Each of these twin pairs shares 100 percent of their genetics. Short sleepers again had a higher BMI (25.7) than normal sleepers (24.7).

There also were 245 twin pairs that differed in their sleep durations. An analysis of these pairs also produced similar results. The shorter-sleeping twins had a higher BMI (25.8) than the twins who had a typical sleep duration (24.9).

How strong was the genetic influence on sleep duration? Further analysis produced a modest heritability estimate of 31 percent for sleep duration. In comparison, the heritability estimate for BMI was 76 percent.

There was little evidence of shared genetics between sleep duration and BMI. Common environmental factors also appeared to have little influence on the link between sleep and BMI.

The results support the idea that voluntary sleep restriction affects BMI. This effect appears to be independent of familial factors.

Do you know your BMI? Use the BMI Calculator on the left side of the blog to find out.

Read more about sleep and obesity and sleep and weight gain.

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Frequent Naps & Type 2 Diabetes in Older Adults

A new study examined the relationship between napping and type 2 diabetes in older Chinese adults. The results were published yesterday in the journal Sleep.

The study involved 19,567 people in China between the ages of 50 and 93 years. About 71 percent of participants were women.

They received a physical exam. They also answered questions about their lifestyle and medical history. This included questions about their napping habits and daytime sleepiness.

Results show that 13.5 percent of the sample had type 2 diabetes. The rate of diabetes was 36 percent higher in people who reported napping four to six times per week. It was 28 percent higher in people who napped daily.

The results were unchanged when people with potential ill health and daytime sleepiness were removed from the analysis. This suggests that it is less likely that diabetes leads to daytime sleepiness. Instead the results raise the possibility that napping may increase the risk of diabetes.

But more research is needed to determine if napping plays a causative role in the development of diabetes. Many other factors may be involved in older adults.

“In many non-Mediterranean, Western countries a large proportion of those that nap are generally older or have other conditions that cause tiredness and create an urge to nap,” lead author Neil Thomas told the AASM. “The napping can therefore be a marker of disease.”

According to the authors, napping is a social norm in China. It is practiced at all ages starting in childhood. At least one nap per week was reported by 67 percent of participants. About 59 percent of these people reported napping daily.

The authors also noted that napping and diabetes were associated even though physical activity levels were higher in nappers. Physical activity has been shown to reduce the risk of diabetes.

Read more about naps and sleep and type 2 diabetes.

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Sleep, Weight & Abdominal Fat

A new study examined the relationship between sleep duration and abdominal fat in a group of Hispanic and African-American young adults. The results were published today in the journal Sleep.

The study involved 1,107 adults between 18 and 81 years of age. Data were collected from 332 African-Americans and 775 Hispanics. Sixty-two percent of participants were female.

Body mass index (BMI) and abdominal fat were measured at a five-year interval. Belly fat was measured using abdominal computed tomography (CT) scans.

Results show that the mean self-reported nightly sleep duration was 6.7 hours at baseline. Seventeen percent of the sample reported sleeping five hours or less per night.

There was no link between sleep duration and abdominal fat change in people older than 40 years of age. But short and long sleep durations were associated with increases in BMI and belly fat in people younger than 40 years of age. The association was strongest in people who reported sleeping five hours or less per night.

They had an average BMI increase over five years that was 1.8 kg/m2 higher than people who slept six to seven hours each night. They also gained more abdominal fat.

“Appropriate amounts of sleep are important for maintenance of healthy weight,” lead author Dr. Kristen Hairston told the AASM. “In a group of African-American and Hispanic participants, those who slept less than this had greater increases in belly fat over a five-year period.”

The CDC reports that blacks are 51 percent more likely to be obese than whites. Hispanics are 21 percent more likely to be obese than whites.

The authors proposed that short sleep may promote abdominal fat gain by increasing hunger and caloric intake. It also may increase fatigue and reduce energy expenditure. Both increased caloric intake and decreased vigorous activity were observed in the short sleep group.

The authors also suggested that doctors should educate young adults about the important role of sleep in a healthy lifestyle. This is most important when young adults transition to life stages that often involve sleep deprivation. These include entering college, getting married and having children.

Last year a study found that blacks had a 78 percent increased risk of obesity related to short sleep. The risk of obesity related to short sleep in whites was increased by 43 percent.

Read more about sleep and weight gain and sleep and race.

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