MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'alertness'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 03:32:04 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3813032&cid=t_227512_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2010%2F08%2F02%2Ftired-on-mondays-sleep-more-on-weekends%2F If you’re feeling especially tired today — and it’s Monday — it may be because you didn’t get your normal recharge of sleep this past weekend. So says a new study published in the journal Sleep by David Dinges and his colleagues. Researchers came to this conclusion after analyzing the results of a sleep deprivation study on 159 healthy, middle-aged adults. A group of 142 participants were sleep-deprived by allowing them only four hours of sleep for 5 consecutive nights. But before the sleep deprivation, these subjects were first given two nights of 10-hour sleep periods, to ensure all participants started at similar sleep levels. They were then allowed randomized doses of recovery sleep ranging from zero hours to 10 hours for per night. The other 17 partici... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3813032 Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:18:23 +0100 3813032 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3635862&cid=t_227512_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2010%2F06%2F07%2Fdsm-5-sleep-disorders-overhaul%2F The DSM-5 Sleep Disorders workgroup has been especially busy. They are calling for a nearly complete overhaul of the sleep disorders category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (“DSM”). According to a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in May, Charles Reynolds, MD, suggested that the reworking of this category will make sleep problems easier for professionals to diagnose and discriminate between different sleep disorders. He stated that the current DSM-IV puts too much emphasis on presumed causes of symptoms, something that the rest of the DSM-IV does not do. Bringing the sleep disorder section more in line with the other sections in the DSM should make it less confusing. Primary and commonly diagnosed sleep diso... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3635862 Mon, 07 Jun 2010 09:35:07 +0100 3635862 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3302371&cid=t_227512_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2010%2F02%2F23%2Fgo-take-a-nap%2F Well, the latest research confirms the positive effects of a mid-afternoon nap. Adults in the latest — albeit small — study suggest that people who took a 90-minute power nap after lunch did better on a battery of cognitive tests than those who didn’t. The improvement rate was about 10 percent better. Some cultures have built in the concept of an afternoon break from the long and non-stop workday. There seems to be some empirical support for the benefits of such a break, in that a mid-afternoon break (including a nap) seems to help with our ability to focus, especially with tasks that need short-term memory (which is what a lot of desk jobs entail). This should not be particularly surprising, since we already have a wealth of research demonstrating the benefits of a full,... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3302371 Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:44:13 +0100 3302371 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2924900&cid=t_227512_122_f&fid=36582&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2FGe5cptnSnbE%2F A few eternal questions: - Is caffeine good for the brain? - Does it boost cognitive functions? - Does it protect against dementia? There is little doubt that drinking that morning cup of coffee will likely increase alertness, but the main questions that research is trying to answer go beyond that. Basically: is there a sustained, lifetime, benefit or harm from drinking coffee regularly? The answer, so far, contains good news and bad news. The good news for coffee drinkers is that most of the long-term results are directionally more positive than negative, so no clear harm seems to occur. The bad news is that it is not clear so far whether caffeine has beneficial effects on general brain functions, either short-term or long-term (aged-related decline or risks of dementia). It is important ... SharpBrains blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2924900 Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:22:26 +0100 2924900 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2375329&cid=t_227512_146_f&fid=38266&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsleepeducation.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F04%2Fmorning-larks-vs-night-owls-circadian.html People who are larks function better in the morning. Night owls are more alert in the evening. But which “chronotype” enables people to function better over the length of a day?A new study in Science takes a look. It involved 16 early morning risers and 15 night owls. They performed alertness tests in a brain scanner after following their normal sleep schedule.Newsweek and Science report that both groups performed well when they took the test 1.5 hours after waking. But the night owls pulled ahead when both groups were tested after being awake for 10.5 hours. They were more alert and had faster reaction times. Overall their performance improved by about 6 percent.So do night owls have a natural alertness advantage over morning larks? Not necessarily.Health News points out that an advan... Sleep Education blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2375329 Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:29:00 +0100 2375329 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2207961&cid=t_227512_146_f&fid=38266&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsleepeducation.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F02%2Fdrowsy-driving-rumble-strips.html You’re sleepy, but you’re intent on making it to your destination on time. So you keep driving.You fight to keep your eyes open. Suddenly you’re startled by a loud noise as your car begins to shake.Your eyes pop open as you realize that your car was drifting off the road. You just encountered a rumble strip.The first shoulder rumble strips appeared on New Jersey's Garden State Parkway in 1955. They are used to prevent run-off-road crashes. The Federal Highway Administration reports that this type of crash causes one-third of all traffic fatalities. The main cause? Drivers are too sleepy.But are rumble strips an effective solution for drowsy driving? A recent study examined how rumble strips affect sleepy drivers.Thirty-five shift workers operated a driving simulator in the morning af... Sleep Education blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2207961 Sat, 07 Feb 2009 12:23:00 +0100 2207961