There are a whole host of bad bedtime behaviors that could have a massive impact on your sleep and your relationship, reports Yahoo News.

It’s little wonder therefore that recent research by Sealy has found that a whopping 36 per cent of cohabiting couples in the UK now regularly sleep in separate beds.

The top reasons for sleeping apart emerged as trying to escape a partners’ snoring (48%) or their tossing and turning (27%), preferring to have the bed to themselves (20%), or opting to share it with someone other than their partner.

In fact, 10% of those surveyed chose to sleep with their pet instead of their partner.

Get the full story at yahoo.com.

A Forbes contributor writes about using Hupnos, a bluetooth-connected sleep mask that comes with built-in technology to help stop snoring.

The technical gist of it? Via bluetooth, Hupnos connects to the companion sleep analysis smartphone app on either iOS and Android. When the mask’s built-in accelerometer detects that you’re sleeping on your back, it delivers gentle vibrations to cue you to change positions. If snoring continues, the mask boosts its expiratory positive airway pressure (EPAP) using your own breath to open airways so that you breathe without snoring. It offers three intensity modes, depending on your level of comfort. In the advanced mode, you can even adjust the vibration level.

The soft mask has wide, adjustable velcro straps on the rear sides, so you can tighten it comfortably around your head. It’s well-padded and actually quite comfortable to wear. And the nosepiece is removable — I suppose so you can clean it. Plus, it connects with your smartphone which monitors your sleep habits.

Get the full story at forbes.com. 

The US FDA (Food & Drug Administration) has 3 regulatory classes for devices. Class I devices (low to moderate risk) present the potential of minimal harm to the user, such as elastic bandages. Class II devices (moderate to high risk) have special controls established to provide reasonable assurance of the safety and effectiveness of the device, and examples include powered wheelchairs and CPAP devices (positive airway pressure delivery systems). Class III devices (high risk) sustain or support life, such as implantable pacemakers, and are subject to premarket approval (PMA).

By default, when a new type of device is submitted to the FDA for approval, it is classified as a Class III device (regardless of its actual risk level). But the FDA can reclassify it as a lower risk level later, which then lowers the regulatory burdens on similar devices that seek approval in the future—enhancing “patients’ access to beneficial innovative devices,” according to the FDA.

The FDA recently issued a final order to reclassify auto titration devices for oral appliances to Class II devices. The order is effective February 20, 2019.

This reclassification comes after the FDA received a De Novo classification request on Dec 21, 2017, from Zephyr Sleep Technologies for its MATRx plus. On August 23, 2018, the FDA issued an order to the requester classifying the device into class II. FDA is codifying the classification of the device by adding 21 CFR 872.5571. “We have named the generic type of device auto titration device for oral appliances, and it is identified as a prescription home use device that determines a target position to be used for a final oral appliance for the reduction of snoring and mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea,” the agency said in its final order.

For a device to fall within this classification, and thus avoid automatic classification in class III, it would have to comply with the special controls named in the final order, which are:

Clinical performance testing must evaluate the following:

• Performance characteristics of the algorithm; and
• All adverse events.

Non-clinical performance testing must demonstrate that the device performs

Could sleeping on your back increase the risk of developing neurodegenerative disease? A study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease provides new insights on this subject.

“We compared the in-home sleep patterns of patients with memory impairment resulting from neurodegenerative diseases to a large group of elderly with normal cognition,” says Daniel J. Levendowski, the study’s first author and president of Advanced Brain Monitoring, in a release. “Sleeping more than 2 hours with one’s head lying face upward (ie, supine) was a significant nocturnal marker that characterized those with memory impairment, after controlling for factors such as age, sex, snoring, obstructive sleep apnea, and movements during the night.”

These results corroborate in humans a finding observed in rats by researchers at Stony Brook University and published in the Journal of Neuroscience. Using dynamic contrast MRI, the Stony Brook researchers found that the clearance of neurotoxic proteins from the brain by glymphatic transport was less efficient when the rats’ heads were in the supine sleep position. “Our results clearly support their conclusions,” says Philip R. Westbrook, MD, chief medical officer of Advanced Brain Monitoring. “We also suggest how the interaction between supine sleep and the natural changes that come with age could impact the clearance of β-amyloid, tau, alpha-synuclein, and other neurotoxins from the brain during sleep.”

Because imaging of the glymphatic system in humans is not yet possible, additional research is needed to establish whether the relationship between neurodegenerative disease and supine sleep is causal. “The strength of the association, however, points to a potentially modifiable risk factor for neurodegenerative disease, similar to diet and exercise,” says Charlene Gamaldo, MD, a coauthor and associate professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The study results were obtained as part of a $2.5 million multi-site longitudinal study funded by the National Institute of Aging and awarded to Advanced Brain Monitoring. The aim of this ongoing research is to characterize the brain’s function during wake and sleep to provide early identification and differentiation between mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other dementias.

“This is one of many neurodegenerative

Adults with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) who experience excessive sleepiness while awake appear to be at far greater risk for cardiovascular diseases than those without excessive daytime sleepiness, according to new research published online in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

In “Symptom Subtypes of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Predict Incidence of Cardiovascular Outcomes,” Diego R. Mazzotti, PhD, and coauthors report on a study of adults with moderate to severe OSA who were categorized into 4 subtypes according to the symptoms they report: disturbed sleep, minimally symptomatic, moderately sleepy, and excessively sleepy.

Previous studies have linked OSA and cardiovascular disease. To understand this association better, researchers have begun to categorize patients with OSA based on their symptoms.

“Multiple studies from our group have shown that patients with moderate to severe OSA throughout the world can be categorized into specific subtypes based on their reported symptoms,” says Mazzotti, lead study author and a sleep researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. “However, until now, it was unclear whether these subtypes had different clinical consequences, especially in regard to future cardiovascular risk.”

The current study analyzed data from 1,207 adults participating in the Sleep Heart Health Study, available from the National Sleep Research Resource. Patients were 40 years old or older at enrollment and were followed for nearly 12 years. The patients had moderate to severe OSA, which was defined as having at least 15 episodes per hour while sleeping when they stopped breathing (apnea) or had reduced breathing (hypopnea). The metric is known as the apnea-hypopnea index, or AHI.

Participant-reported symptoms, such as difficulty falling and staying asleep, snoring, fatigue, drowsy driving, and daytime sleepiness, and responses to a widely used questionnaire called the Epworth Sleepiness Scale were used to determine the patient’s subtype.

The study found participants exhibiting the excessively sleepy subtype were:

• More than 3 times as likely to have been diagnosed with heart failure at enrollment than the other 3 subtypes.
• About twice as likely to experience a cardiovascular event (heart attack, heart failure, stroke, or cardiovascular death) during the follow-up

The carmaker Ford has designed stay-in-your-lane mattress technology for couples.

Ford’s mattress design would include a mechanism to “nudge” partners to their own side of the bed if they began to dominate the space. According to studies (no doubt funded by bed manufacturers), one in four people report better sleep when they sleep alone, which does make some sense, given there is no risk of duvet larceny by your other half, or disruptive snoring. But the idea of couples actually sleeping in separate beds is rather saddening. It seems just a step away from the set-up of former couple Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton, who lived in adjoining houses.

Perhaps it’s the practice of sleeping in separate rooms that Ford is trying to avoid, although it remains perplexing why a car manufacturer actually cares (the mattress is at the prototype stage). Maybe less tired people buy more cars?

Get the full story at www.theguardian.com