Learn About Sleep

  • Does Pre-Bed Video Gaming Ruin Your Sleep?

    Video gaming is something of a national pastime among teenagers in the United States. One survey found that nearly 75% of teenage boys participate in some form of gaming^1.  With so many of our  kids playing video games as a principle form of recreation, and so many of the video games being highly action-oriented and … Read More »

  • The Real Reason They Call it the Graveyard Shift…

    I wanted to start this week with a real warm and fuzzy post about how grateful we are for our sleep technologists. We call them night techs. Each October, the American Association of Sleep Technologists celebrates Sleep Tech Week to recognize the technologists who play a vital role in sleep centers across the country. Who performs … Read More »

  • When Should You Drink Your Morning Coffee?

    Why does coffee help us start the day? Caffeine is a tricky substance. To our brains, caffeine looks like adenosine, a compound consisting of adenine (one of the four building blocks of DNA) and ribose. As it is created in the brain, adenosine binds to the adenosine receptors, causing drowsiness by slowing down nerve cell activity. Caffeine is … Read More »

  • The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Work Performance

    Busy professionals experience many pressures that impede their ability to obtain optimal amounts of sleep. Working according to shift patterns, working across different time zones simultaneously and international travel¹ are all common causes of sleep loss. In addition, the use of artificial lighting and hand-held technologies at night², ever increasing pressure to perform (and to … Read More »

  • How Does Alcohol Affect Sleep?

    We’ve covered the effects of using electronics before bed in several blog posts (check out the most recent one here). According to some doctors, drinking alcohol before bed may be even more disruptive to your sleep. Learn about the effects of alcohol on sleep.

  • Drowsy Driving vs. Drunk Driving vs. High Driving

    It’s well known that there’s a correlation between sleeping patterns and marijuana usage. Research shows that there are some strains that work better at inducing sleepiness or lowering pain and stress symptoms. This alone makes marijuana an appealing alternative or last resort when nothing else works.  Those who are turning towards marijuana to cure insomnia, … Read More »

  • How Does Sleep Affect Exercise Recovery?

    We’ve covered the benefits of exercise for improving the quality of your sleep and how to balance sleep and exercise (click here). In this post we’ll cover the importance of sleep for athletes at all levels, including recent scientific studies that look at the benefits of sleep for recovery after exercise.

  • How Will Telemedicine Change How Sleep Disorders are Treated?

    Telemedicine was a hot topic at this year’s Sleep conference, a joint meeting of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society, in Denver, Colorado. Telemedicine has been embraced by primary care physicians in rural areas who struggle to arrange for specialist consultations for their patients who have limited access due to the cost … Read More »