Eating
oily fish or omega-3 supplements could improve children's quality of sleep, a
new Oxford study has found. The study suggests that higher levels of omega-3
DHA, the group of long-chain fatty acids found in algae and seafood, are
associated with better sleep. Researchers from the University of Oxford
explored whether 16 weeks of daily 600mg supplements of algal sources would improve
the sleep of 362 children. At the outset of the study, the parents filled in a
child sleep questionnaire, which revealed that four in 10 of the children in
the study suffered from regular sleep disturbances. Of the children rated as
having poor sleep, the researchers fitted wrist sensors to 43 of them to
monitor their movements in bed over five nights. The study showed that the
children on a course of daily supplements of omega-3 had nearly one hour (58
minutes) more sleep and seven fewer waking episodes per night compared with the
children taking the corn or soybean placebo. The study looked at sleep in 362
healthy seven to nine-year-old UK school children in relation to the levels of
omega-3 and omega-6 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) found in
fingerstick blood samples. Previous research has suggested links between poor
sleep and low blood omega-3 LC-PUFA in infants and in children and adults with
behaviour or learning difficulties. However, this is the first study to
investigate possible links between sleep and fatty acid status in healthy
children. At the start of the study, parents and carers were asked to rate
their child's sleep habits over a typical week. Their responses indicated that
40 per cent of the children had clinical-level sleep problems such as
resistance to bedtime, anxiety about sleep and constant waking in the course of
the night. The study finds that higher blood levels of the long-chain omega-3
DHA (the main omega-3 fatty acid found in the brain) are significantly associated
with better sleep, including less bedtime resistance, parasomnias and total
sleep disturbance. It adds that higher ratios of DHA in relation to the
long-chain omega-6 fatty acid AA (arachidonic acid) are also associated with
fewer sleep problems. "To find clinical level sleep problems in four in 10
of this general population sample is a cause for concern. Various substances
made within the body from omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids have long been known
to play key roles in the regulation of sleep," lead author Professor Paul
Montgomery of Oxford University said. The findings appear in the Journal of
Sleep Research.
Difficulty or inability to write a coherent text message, even in people who have no problem speaking, may become a "vital" tool in diagnosing a type of crippling stroke, according to a new research. Scientists at Henry Ford Hospital focused on a 40-year-old man visiting the metro Detroit area on business who showed signs of "dystextia," a recently coined term for incoherent text messaging that can sometimes be confused with autocorrect garble. But in his case, the man saw nothing wrong with the garble. The patient had no problem with a routine bedside test of his language abilities - including fluency of speech, reading, writing, comprehension and other factors. However, when asked to type a simple text message, he not only produced garble, but he was unable to see it as such. Despite showing only slight facial asymmetry and no other symptoms, doctors determined the man had suffered an acute ischemic stroke, in which a clot or other blockage cuts off blood supply t...
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