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Most people consider drowsy driving dangerous, but an estimated 37 million Americans still get behind the wheel at least once a year when they’re so tired they can barely keep their eyes open. About six in 10 people admitted to drowsy driving in a new survey by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF). “Drowsy driving is impaired driving,” said Joseph Dzierzewski, the foundation’s vice president of research and scientific affairs. “We see that while most Americans believe drowsy driving is risky, they still drive when not fully alert. The good news is — drowsy driving is preventable.” In a survey conducted this fall, nearly 20% of respondents were overly confident in their ability to drive after sleeping two hours or less the previous night. Respondents who said they get the recommended amount of sleep — about seven to nine hours per night for adults and eight to 10 for teens — were less likely to drive drowsy. Members of historically excluded groups were at higher risk for drowsy driving, according to the NSF, which said it may be an issue of sleep health equity. (In a position statement issued earlier this year, the foundation noted that people of color in the United States are disproportionately affected by poor sleep health and sleep disorders.) An estimated 6,400 people die in the United States each year because of… read on > read on >

Poor sleep may be linked to glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness, new research suggests. The study drew on a database of more than 400,000 people to explore links between sleep and vision loss. Glaucoma is marked by progressive loss of light-sensitive cells in the eye and optic nerve damage. Left untreated, it can cause irreversible blindness. As many as 112 million people worldwide could be affected by 2040. For the new study, the researchers considered a variety of sleep behaviors. These included too much sleep as well as too little, insomnia and daytime sleepiness, being a “night owl” or a “morning lark,” as well as snoring. The investigators used data from more than 409,000 participants in the UK Biobank (average age: 57). The study defined normal sleep duration as seven to nine hours. The researchers used medical records and death data to track the health and lifespan of all participants until a first diagnosis of glaucoma, death, emigration or end of monitoring in 2021. During an average 10.5-year monitoring period, the researchers identified 8,690 cases of glaucoma. Frequent daytime sleepiness was associated with a 20% higher risk for the disease. The risk rose 12% with insomnia and 8% with short or long sleep duration. Snoring was associated with a 4% higher risk. Compared to folks who had a healthy sleep pattern, people who snored… read on > read on >

New research reveals that the brain is much more flexible than once thought and can change rapidly during treatment for major depression. People receiving inpatient treatment for major depression had increased brain connectivity after just six weeks, German researchers report. They compared brain connectivity — various brain regions acting together in generating thought, emotion and behavior — in 109 patients with serious depression to that in a control group of 55 volunteers without depression. MRI scans were used to identify which brain areas were communicating with others before and after treatment. “We found that treatment for depression changed the infrastructure of the brain, which goes against previous expectations. Treated patients showed a greater number of connections than they had shown before treatment,” said lead researcher Jonathan Repple, who was part of the University of Muenster team that did the study. He’s now a professor of predictive psychiatry at the University of Frankfurt. The research was presented recently at a meeting of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, in Vienna and online. For the study, patients with depression were treated with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), psychological therapy or medication, or a combination of all therapies. The researchers then rescanned participants’ brains, counting the number of connections. They also retested for depression. The upshot: Patients who showed the most response to treatment had developed more new connections than those… read on > read on >

For women, the key to getting ahead at work could be getting more shut-eye. Quality sleep boosted women’s moods, which then made them more intent on work achievements, a new study found. Researchers from Washington State University and University of Minnesota-Duluth surveyed 135 U.S. workers (men and women) twice a day for over two weeks to study this issue, gaining 2,200 observations. The study asked the women and men at noon daily about the previous night’s sleep and their current mood. In the evenings, the investigators asked participants about their intentions to pursue more responsibility, status and influence at work. While men and women in the study had both good and bad quality of sleep over the two weeks, women had lowered intentions about their work status after a poor night’s sleep. Men’s work intentions weren’t impacted by sleep quality. “When women are getting a good night’s sleep and their mood is boosted, they are more likely to be oriented in their daily intentions toward achieving status and responsibility at work,” said study author Leah Sheppard, an associate professor in WSU’s Carson College of Business. “If their sleep is poor and reduces their positive mood, then we saw that they were less oriented toward those goals.” The reason for these gender differences may be men and women tend to differ in emotion regulation, as well… read on > read on >

Most pregnant women are told it’s safe to have one cup of coffee a day because it won’t trigger miscarriages or preterm deliveries, but new research suggests a surprising risk: Moms-to-be who consume caffeine, even in small amounts, may have shorter kids. “The main takeaway is that even low exposure to caffeine during pregnancy was associated with shorter height in childhood,” said study lead author Jessica Gleason, a research fellow at the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends that pregnant women limit their caffeine consumption to less than 200 milligrams (mg) per day. That is the equivalent of about two 6-ounce cups of coffee. Exactly how, or even if, caffeine affects stature isn’t fully understood yet, but the researchers have some theories. “Maternal caffeine metabolism slows down during pregnancy, caffeine and its metabolites … cross the placenta, and the fetus cannot metabolize or break down caffeine or its metabolites,” Gleason explained. “As pregnancy progresses, this means that the fetus can be exposed to accumulating caffeine.” In animal studies, this led to a change in normal growth patterns. What’s more, too much caffeine can also lead to increased insulin sensitivity in the fetus, which can potentially have lasting consequences for normal growth, Gleason added. It’s not just coffee either, she said. “Our study accounts… read on > read on >

A new analysis illustrates the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade: In numerous states, women now have no choice but to travel long distances to get an abortion. One-third of American women of reproductive age must now drive excessive distances, the researchers reported. Twice as many women must now travel more than an hour to get abortion care. And some are having to drive even longer distances to access an abortion. “We need to understand the diminished access to this essential health service in order to better understand what resources we need to invest to regain that access,” said senior study author Yulin Hswen, an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). “We were startled to see that populations of major metropolitan areas now have to travel several hours for care,” she added in a university news release. In the South, where numerous neighboring states have eliminated access to abortion services, travel times grew the most, the findings showed. Median travel times to access an abortion had been 15 minutes, roughly, in Texas and Louisiana before the Supreme Court ruling this summer. It is now more than six hours, with an average increase of eight hours in Texas, the investigators found. In states with total or six-week abortion bans, travel times increased… read on > read on >

(HealthDay News) — From skin conditions like eczema to contagious diseases like ringworm, there are many reasons for itchy skin. Regardless of the cause, the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) says it’s important to avoid scratching, which will irritate the skin further. To soothe itchy skin, the academy suggests: Apply a cold, wet cloth or ice pack to the area. Take an oatmeal bath. Moisturize the skin with a fragrance-free product. Apply topical anesthetics that contain pramoxine. Apply agents like menthol or calamine. If the itch does not go away, the AAD suggests visiting a dermatologist.

(HealthDay News) — Job loss, promotion, a transfer and other life changes can force families to move. For children, a move can be stressful and accentuate negative aspects of their personalities, says the American Academy of Pediatrics. To help a child adjust to a move, the academy encourages parents to: Emphasize the positive aspects of what awaits at the new location. Let your child express his or her feelings and acknowledge sadness. Take your child to the community where you will be moving. Give the child the chance to participate in decisions, such as the new room color. Become involved in the new community yourself. Maintain contact with the old community.

Scientists have found one more way Flipper is a lot like people: The sharp rise in antibiotic resistance affecting humans is also happening to dolphins. The discovery stems from a 13-year study of bottlenose dolphins in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon. “We’ve been able to provide a large database of information in order to continue learning from these impressive animals,” said Gregory Bossart, senior vice president and chief veterinary officer at the Georgia Aquarium, one of four partners in the new study. The research, published Sept. 15 in the journal Aquatic Mammals, follows a report last week that bottlenose dolphins in the English Channel harbor “a toxic cocktail” of chemicals, including some that have been banned for decades. For the latest study, the researchers analyzed antibiotic resistance in 733 samples of bacteria collected between 2003 and 2015 from 171 bottlenose dolphins in the lagoon on Florida’s eastern coast. Some of the bacteria are also a threat to humans. In all, over 88% were resistant to at least one antibiotic, the researchers found. Resistance was highest to erythromycin (nearly 92%), followed by ampicillin (77%) and cephalothin (about 62%). Similar to trends in people, resistance to ciprofloxacin among E. coli samples more than doubled during the study. And rates of resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa — a cause of respiratory and urinary infections in people — were the highest… read on >

When a child gets sick, doctors are increasingly relying on what’s known as “off-label” use of medications, a new study says. Off-label use of a drug means that it hasn’t been specifically studied and approved for the condition, age group or weight of the person getting the prescription. For example, kids with asthma may be prescribed antihistamines (approved for allergies, but not specifically for asthma), because they may have allergies that trigger their wheezing, the researchers noted. The study found that doctors prescribed one or more off-label drugs for children in almost 1 out of every 5 office visits. “Off-label doesn’t mean a drug is harmful. There’s often good evidence behind the use of off-label drugs,” said study senior author Dr. Daniel Horton. He’s an assistant professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, N.J. “But sometimes there isn’t good evidence, so it’s important for parents to discuss with the child’s doctor what is known and not known about off-label drugs, so they can try to ensure that the benefits of a drug outweigh the risks,” Horton said. Doctors often turn to off-label drug use because no alternative exists, the authors said. “Historically, children have been excluded from clinical trials of medications. This left a large gap in knowledge. Over time, legislation and policies to require more… read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Most Americans Admit to Driving While Drowsy: Poll

Bad Sleep Might Raise Your Odds for Glaucoma

Depression Treatment Starts Changing the Brain Within 6 Weeks

Does Good Sleep Help Women Climb the Corporate Ladder?

Even a Little Coffee in Pregnancy Might Stunt a Child’s Growth

Travel Times to Abortion Facilities Have Lengthened After Dobbs Decision: Study

Health Tip: Relieving Itchy Skin

Health Tip: Helping Children Adjust to a Move

Even Dolphins Are Threatened by Antibiotic-Resistant ‘Superbugs’

Kids Often Prescribed Drugs ‘Off-Label,’ Raising Concerns

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