Sleeping

Wearable digital technology measures atopic dermatitis itch while sleeping

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The use of wearable digital health monitors that measure itch and scratch during sleep appeared useful for patients with atopic dermatitis, according to study results.

“If a person knows how much itching they’re having at night, then they can also share that with their physician or other health care practitioner, informing them of the status of their atopic dermatitis,” Donna D. (De De) Gardner, DrPH, RRT, FCCP, FAARC, director of research and evaluation at Allergy & Asthma Network, told Healio.

Man sleeping with Apple Watch
Though most patients agreed that the information provided by the technology was useful, few said they would discuss the data with their physicians. Source: Adobe Stock

For the study, presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Scientific Meeting, researchers recruited respondents from a dermatology office and the Allergy & Asthma Network community via email between December 2020 and April 2021. Most of the participants were white women aged 35 to 50 years, Gardner said.

Participants needed to have an Apple iPhone and Apple Watch; those without the watch received one to use during the study.

Next, participants downloaded the DermaTrack (Embleema) application onto their iPhone to measure vibrations and movement in the skin and record when users scratch themselves.

The participants also completed the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and a demographic survey, in addition to daily surveys and a final satisfaction survey.

Of the 81 participants who completed the DLQI, 53 said that their AD determined what clothes they were going to wear each day, 41 said their social activities depended on their AD status, 28 said they were hesitant to have sex with their partner because of their AD and 61 said they were embarrassed or overly conscious of their AD.

“And then 73, almost all of the participants, said that their skin was itchy, sore and painful,” said Gardner. “So atopic dermatitis does, as we know, impact quality of life.”

Overall, 79% of the participants agreed that AD had a moderate to large effect on their life.

For 7 nights, the participants wore the Apple Watch while they slept.

Data from the app showed patients experienced a maximum of 32 minutes of itching a night, indicating scratch from AD impacts sleep as well, Gardner said.

“If you could imagine itching constantly for 32 minutes, that’s painful and is going to interrupt your sleep,” Gardner said. “These people are not sleeping at night, and their quality of life is poor.”

The app’s dashboard then let participants review these data and share it with their physicians. Although 89% of the participants agreed that the information was useful, only 53% said it would enable them to better discuss their AD with their physician, and even fewer said they would do so.

“The sad thing is that even though people were informed, only a third of them said they would actually have the conversation,” Gardner said. “That tells you that they are hesitant to have the conversation with their health care provider about the status of their atopic dermatitis.”

Sleeping boosts women’s brain power but men benefit more from naps, research suggests

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Previous research has suggested women need more sleep as their brains are ‘more complex’ than men’s.

Getting a good night’s sleep boosts women’s brain power, while men benefit from shorter naps, research has suggested.

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Scientists at the Max Planck Institute in Munich analysed the sleep patterns of 160 adults to consider how sleep affects intellectual capacity. Their study has been presented at the Forum of Neuroscience in Copenhagen.

The researchers monitored the cohort’s sleep patterns, as well as performing intelligence tests on them to assess their reasoning and problem solving skills, Mail Online reports. They monitored sleep spindles, which are bursts of brain activity to consider correlation with different forms of sleep, cross-referenced with gender.

They found that sleep spindles, which are associated with higher IQ scores, were boosted when women entered dreamless sleep. For men no such correlation was found during dreamless sleep.

However, analysis of men’s brain activity found the same stimulation occurred when they had naps.

Professor Martin Dresler said: “Our results demonstrate that the association between sleep spindles and intelligence is more complex than we have assumed until now.

“There are many factors involved in intellectual abilities, and sleep is just one of them. This large study of men and women gives us a more accurate framework for the next phase of research which will involve differences in individuals sleep patterns.”

Earlier this year, researchers at Loughborough University Sleep Research Centre found women may need more sleep as their brains are more complex than men’s. Professor Jim Horne, who has researched the issue said: “Women tend to multi-task — they do lots at once and are flexible — and so they use more of their actual brain than men do. Because of that, their sleep need is greater.”

Sleeping 8 Hours Straight Isn’t How Your Ancestors Did It

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We didn’t always sleep how we do today–a full eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. Several centuries ago, doctors prescribed a far different sleep regimen. But the advent of the light bulb changed all that. Lynn Stuart Parramore of Alternet found this lost history of sleep while trying to remedy her own sleep issues. She would wake for a couple hours in the middle of the night, becoming anxious that the next day she would be sleep deprived. But she discovered her midnight wakefulness was considered natural… several centuries ago.

People did not evolve to sleep soundly the entire night. It was only until going out at night was in vogue that people would sleep in two stages dubbed the “first sleep” and “second sleep.” Before electricity and street lamps became the norm, the night belonged to more unsavory folk, and few people at the time could afford a lantern bearer to light the way in the dark. So, most people before the 17th century would stay at home, in bed, and wake in the middle of the night to read, chat with neighbors or bedfellows, or have sex.

When street lighting and the industrial revolution came about, historian Craig Koslofsky notes that health authorities of the 19th century recommended a single sleep—one uninterrupted night. People, like Parramore, who wake in the middle of the night don’t have a disorder and certainly don’t need sleep aids to get them through a full night:

“Since our collective memory has been erased, anxiety about nighttime wakefulness has kept us up even longer, and our eight-hour sleep mandate may have made us more prone to stress. The long period of relaxation we used to get after a hard day’s work may have been better for our peace of mind than all the yoga in Manhattan.”

Before you rush to your doctor to get an prescription for Ambien, consider that your anxiety may be misplaced and you should use your middle of the night disruption as a natural course of your sleep cycle. After all there’s a lot of different ways to sleep other than in one shot for 8-hours. Many people have experimented with alternative sleep cycles, Dan Love of the High Existence has outlined many of the different ways you can go about sleeping.

Shelby Harris is a sleep researcher and Assistant Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In the pre-modern world, says Harris, circadian rhythms were synched with the rising and setting of the sun, but modern life requires many to adjust their internal clocks to accommodate alternative sleeping habits.

Is Sleeping On My Left Side Good For Digestion And Sleep?

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Sleep is an integral part of life. It’s doesn’t just re-energizes and rejuvenates the mind and body but also works wonders for our overall health. Therefore, the duration of our sleep is critical and almost all forms of healthcare institutions prescribe and suggest every individual to get a good amount of sleep.

Anyway, just as important as the duration of the sleep, the position you adopt while sleeping also has healthy implication. It is studied that sleep position can influence your health, help in keeping your skinlook young, and improve your digestive health. But what sort of a position are talking about here.

Is Sleeping On My Left Side Good For Digestion And Sleep?

Yes, sleeping on the left side is said to be great for digestion. According to the holistic medicine, the left side of the body is the dominant lymphatic side, and sleeping on this side, the body will get more time to filter toxins, lymph fluid, and waste through the thoracic duct and the lymph nodes. As opposed to the left side, sleeping on your right side may cause your lymphatic system to run more slowly.

One of the experts says that when you start sleeping on your left side, gradually, you will start noticing the increased efficiency of your body at toxin disposal through waste. This, the expert says, happens because of this sleeping position improves the digestive system, and allows your body to promptly extract nutrients and dispose toxins.