Sleep

More than 64% of migraine sufferers report poor sleep quality, and they are significantly more likely to be evening types than people without headache disorders, according to a nationwide study of 5,311 Polish adults. The link between sleep and headache is well known clinically, but population-level data comparing sleep quality and chronotype across headache subtypes […]

People with an evening chronotype are more likely to delay bedtime, and for women, problematic use of generative AI tools amplifies this effect, according to a survey of 410 adult users. Bedtime procrastination is a growing concern in the digital age, but the role of new generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and image generators […]

A new integrative theory published in Progress in Neurobiology proposes that REM sleep functions as a biological simulation engine, allowing the brain to test and refine synaptic updates before committing them to long-term storage. Sleep scientists have long recognized that rapid eye movement (REM) sleep supports emotional regulation, memory consolidation, and creativity, but a unified […]

Theta-band brain activity in the two seconds before the onset of a sleep slow oscillation can predict both whether the oscillation will occur and how far it will propagate, researchers at the University of Chicago report. Sleep slow oscillations (SOs, ~0.5-1.5 Hz) are a hallmark of deep NREM sleep and are known to play a […]

A molecule called tryptamine, produced by wake-active monoaminergic neurons and secreted in proportion to physical activity, accumulates in cerebrospinal fluid to drive homeostatic sleep pressure and promote sleep through the GPR139 receptor, according to a study in Nature Neuroscience that spans both nocturnal mice and diurnal pigs. The molecular identity of sleep-promoting substances — the […]

The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) — one of the most widely used self-report instruments in sleep medicine — faces fundamental conceptual and methodological problems that limit its utility in modern sleep research, according to a critical review in Sleep Medicine Reviews. Since its publication in 1989 by Buysse and colleagues, the PSQI has been […]

A new review in Frontiers in Neurology examines how two NREM sleep rhythms — sleep spindles and high-frequency oscillations (HFOs) — interact in the epileptic brain, and how computational modeling could transform epilepsy diagnosis and treatment. Sleep spindles (11-16 Hz bursts during NREM sleep) are normally involved in memory consolidation and thalamocortical coordination. High-frequency oscillations, […]

Poor sleep quality in insomnia disorder may impair working memory through a two-step neural pathway involving glymphatic dysfunction and disrupted subcortical structure-function coupling, according to a multimodal MRI study of 391 patients published in Psychological Medicine. Working memory deficits are a frequent complaint among people with insomnia, but the underlying brain mechanisms have remained unclear. […]

Even dim light at night — as low as 2 lux, comparable to a streetlamp filtering through curtains — disrupts sleep, increases fat gain, and elevates blood glucose in a dose-dependent manner, according to a study in zebra finches published in Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences. With light pollution increasing worldwide, the question of how much […]

Nearly two out of three combat sport athletes have poor sleep quality, with rapid weight loss of more than 4% body weight nearly tripling the odds, according to a cross-sectional study of 498 athletes published in Frontiers in Psychology. Combat sport athletes face unique sleep challenges from high training loads, pre-competition weight cutting, and the […]