Sleep

Prenatal Depression and Anxiety Disrupt Infant Sleep Through Separate Biological Pathways A large prospective study finds that maternal depression and anxiety harm infant sleep through distinct mechanisms, one involving stress hormones and the other the gut microbiome, pointing toward targeted interventions for each condition. Lead For years, clinicians have known that prenatal psychological distress raises […]

Sex Differences in Sleep-Disordered Breathing: Study Finds Female Mice Have More Disrupted Sleep and Stronger CO2 Sensitivity Lead. Sleep-disordered breathing affects millions of people worldwide, and men and women experience it differently. A new study published in the journal Sleep provides fresh insight into the biological roots of these differences, using mice to show that […]

Both underestimation and overestimation of sleep duration linked to higher mortality in older men with sleep disturbances New research finds that how accurately older men perceive their own sleep time may matter as much for survival as how long they actually sleep. Lead A large longitudinal study published in Scientific Reports has found that older […]

Sleep spindles enhance latent working memory representations Lead Working memory allows the brain to hold onto information for seconds to minutes, but exactly how it does so has long puzzled neuroscientists. A new preprint from researchers at the University of Oxford and the University of Birmingham suggests that sleep spindles, brief bursts of brain activity […]

GLP-1 Receptor Agonists in Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Propensity Score-Matched Real-World Analysis A major retrospective study of nearly 900,000 patients suggests that GLP-1 receptor agonists may substantially lower the risk of stroke, hospitalization, and death in people with obstructive sleep apnea. The findings, published in Respiratory Medicine, offer the first large-scale real-world glimpse at the […]

The Screen and the Sandman: Umbrella Review Confirms Media Use Disrupts Childhood Sleep The relationship between screen time and the sleep of children and adolescents has been studied for decades. Yet despite the near-universal advice that young people should put down devices before bed, the scientific community has struggled to produce a definitive, high-confidence verdict […]

Smartphone motor tracking detects early Parkinson’s signals in REM sleep behavior disorder patients A smartphone app that measures subtle changes in finger tapping, hand movements, and speech has proven sensitive enough to distinguish people with idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) who are about to develop Parkinson’s disease from those who remain stable, according to […]

Sleep and feeding are not separate physiological systems that happen to share a daily schedule. They co-evolved as a deeply conserved adaptive regulatory module, shaped by millions of years of ecological pressure. A sweeping new review in Nutrients synthesizes evidence from evolutionary genomics, chronobiology, neuroendocrinology, and microbiome science to propose an integrative framework the authors […]

Tired and wired: sleep deprivation prevents emotional adaptation to prolonged and ambiguous threat A new study combining virtual reality, heart rate monitoring, and multidimensional experience sampling reveals that sleep deprivation blocks the brain’s natural ability to downregulate fear and anxiety in the face of sustained, unclear threats. The findings offer a mechanistic explanation for why […]

Associations of Bubble Tea Consumption with Sleep Disturbance and Anxiety in Adolescents A study of nearly 12,000 adolescents in Eastern China has found that frequent bubble tea consumption is associated with higher odds of anxiety symptoms, with the relationship following a clear dose-response pattern. The findings, published in *Nutrients*, add to a growing conversation about […]