A study presented at the American Stroke Association’s meeting in New Orleans found that 91 percent of stroke patients had sleep apnea, and that sleep apnea increased the chances of silent strokes, as well. The more severe the apnea, the more likely patients were to have suffered a silent stroke.

Loud snoring is the hallmark of sleep apnea, so if you’ve been told that you snore, please discuss it with your doctor.

Learn more about the Snoring Center minimally invasive treatments for snoring and sleep apnea.

                          

Learn more about The Snoring Center minimally invasive treatments for snoring and sleep apnea.

                          

There is growing recognition that a large number of individuals living in Western society are chronically sleep deprived. Sleep deprivation is associated with an increase in food consumption and appetite. However, the brain regions that are most susceptible to sleep deprivation-induced changes when processing food stimuli have been unknown until recently.

New research out of Uppsala University in Sweden, published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism on January 18, 2012, examined brain activation after a night of regular sleep versus a night of sleep deprivation in response to images of food.

By means of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the researchers studied the brains of 12 normal-weight males as they viewed images of food. The researchers compared the fMRI results between the two sessions each male subject underwent—looking at food images after a night with normal sleep versus looking at those same images after one night without sleep.

On the morning after either total sleep deprivation or sleep, neural activation was measured by fMRI, as the subjects viewed pictures of high- and low-calorie food items. Hunger ratings and morning fasting blood sugar, or glucose, levels were assessed before the scan, as well as in response to food images after the scan.

In both sleep-satisfied and sleep-deprived subjects, the same area of the brain—the right anterior cingulate cortex—was noted to have increased activation in response to the food images, independent of the images’ calorie content, or the subjects’ pre-scan hunger ratings.  However, for the subjects in the total sleep deprivation state, the degree of activation on fMRI caused by visual food stimulus correlated positively with increased post-scan hunger ratings.  This increase in self-reported hunger after viewing food images in the total sleep deprivation condition, versus the post-sleep condition, occurred despite no significant differences in the fasting blood glucose levels of the subjects.

Thus, acute sleep loss enhances the underlying drive to consume food, after processing the food image stimulus, independent of blood glucose levels.  These findings highlight a potentially important mechanism contributing to the growing levels of obesity in Western society.

As the primary investigator of this study, Christian Benedict, explains:

“After a night of total sleep loss, these males showed a high level of activation in an area of the brain that is involved in a desire to eat. Bearing in mind that insufficient sleep is a growing problem in modern society, our results may explain why poor sleep habits can affect people’s risk to gain weight in the long run. It may therefore be important to sleep about eight hours every night to maintain a stable and healthy body weight.”

Learn more about The Snoring Center minimally invasive treatments for snoring and sleep apnea.

                          

Even though I was born in New York, I love Chicago – it’s history, architecture, midwestern spirit and sensability – what a great town! On behalf of everyone at the Snoring Center, thank you for having us – we are thrilled to be here. We are committed to providing exceptional, patient focused medical care, and to providing unmatched customer service. We are here not only to treat snoring and sleep apnea, but to serve as a resource for the community. We hope to reach as many people as possible, educating about the importance of adequate, restorative sleep, and arming people with the tools to get better sleep, so that they can enjoy healthier, happier, more productive lives. Here’s to a great future together, Chicago!

Learn more about The Snoring Center minimally invasive treatments for snoring and sleep apnea.

                          

The magic bullet, as it turns out, may be as simple as getting better sleep. If this year you resolve to really, really, finally make it to the gym more often – get more sleep. People who are sleep deprived have less energy and are less likely to exercise regularly than well rested counterparts. Think that the secret to weight loss is diet and exercise? Nope. It’s diet, excersise, and sleep. Studies have shown that people who get at least eight hours of sleep per night lose more weight than people who sleep less – even if their diet and exercise programs are the same. Marital satisfaction has also been linked to sleeping patterns – spouses of snorers have less sex, argue more, and report lower marital satisfaction scores than “non-snoring” couples. Snoring has even been cited as a leading cause of divorce. How about job performance – can sleep really impact my likelihood of getting a promotion? YES! Studies have shown that people with sleep disorders receive fewer promotions, and lower overall job performance measures than co-workers without sleep problems.

So in virtually all aspects of our lives, sleep really does make a difference, and one of the best ways to ensure that the new year is happier, healthier, and more prosperous is to simply get the sleep that you need.

Happy New Year!

Craig Schwimmer, MD, MPH, FACS
Medical Director and CEO

The Snoring Center
www.SnoringCenter.com

                          

Learn more about The Snoring Center minimally invasive treatments for snoring and sleep apnea.

                          

Learn more about The Snoring Center minimally invasive treatments for snoring and sleep apnea.