Sleep and Health Journal

Zalik Alexander, MD

A 6-year-old cute boy who was invited to a birthday party after an hour is still standing in the corner and holding his mother's hand. The mother is trying to convince the boy to go and play with kids who he knows well. But the boy is staring into the floor and repeating one sentence: "Let's go home. I do not like this. Too much noise."

Q. Dear Dr. Sleep

I had many surgeries and assure you that sleep problems before surgery and sleep after surgery is a very serious problem, yet when I talk to surgeons they brush off this subject or prescribe sleeping pills in addition to already multiple pain relievers, made me all day sleepy, confused and getting more addicted to sedatives. What do you know about the topic and what are your suggestions?

Dear Dr Sleep,

First of all, a happy and healthy New Year to you, your team and family!

Thank you for your help to solve my child's sleep problems.

I want to give you an update on Adam and ask for any referrals. His sleep is now tolerable as he will go a week sleeping through the night and then maybe four to five days up for a few hours in the middle of the night. Right now, that is not my biggest concern.

Dear Dr. Sleep.

I am scared of my own 6-year-old boy. He wakes up in a middle of the night, might come to my mother or to me and hit with any object. I am waking up many times listening if he is around. I have to put a lock in my bedroom. Our family is a family of professionals. We never had anyone in our family who is violent. We are originally from the South of the former Soviet Union, emotional and loud at home, but in general emotional atmosphere at home is friendly. According to our tradition our parents live with us.

Hello Dr. Sleep,

My boyfriend has an eleven-year-old daughter who is bright, intelligent, and very mature for her age as far as her comprehension and understanding of situations. At bedtime, however, her entire personality changes and she refuses to go to sleep alone. When she is at her mother's house, her mother sleeps with her each night so as not to deal with the problem. My boyfriend, however, is not comfortable with doing that nor does he think it should be necessary at her age. She cries and says cruel things to her dad and insists on going home to mommy's at bedtime. Apparently this has been an ongoing problem in the family for seven years (since the separation) and a counselor told the mom not to co-sleep with the child but she continues to do so.

By Alexander Golbin, MD

About 30 years ago, Dr. Rechtshaften from the University of Chicago, who was the author of the first manual for analyzing sleep records, designed an unusual experiment. He placed a rat on the tiny board surrounded by water. The rat was very comfortable on this board with enough food until she wanted to sleep. At the beginning of sleep she was also fine until she hit REM stage, the muscles get paralyzed and she slid into the water. Sure it was enough to wake her up. She got back on board and the end of the story was the sickness and eventual death. Conclusion: the loss of REM sleep is dangerous for your health.

By Tony Dajer

Dr. Singh, my intern, presented the case:

"Fifty-one-year-old woman complaining of right calf pain and swelling. Flew back from London two days ago. On birth control pills for 20 years. Sister recently developed a thigh clot after starting the pill."

By Ira Shapira, DDS

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin and in Japan have shown that ordinary skin cells can be turned into cells that are virtually the same as embryonic stem cells. This is exciting news, as it will speed development of research on stem cells and lead to enormous changes in the practice of medicine. The thorny ethical issues of deriving stem cells from embryos has created animosity between the scientific and medical communities and many people who believed using embryonic cells created an intolerable ethical conflict. This led to political decisions that cut funding from stem cell research.

A team of psychiatrists at Thomas Jefferson University presented findings on the influence of modafinil (Provagil) for treating fatigue and sleepiness, two primary symptoms of major depression that often do not resolve with antidepressive therapy and may require additional therapeutic measures.

Although scientists have long speculated that there may be a genetic marker for the fear response, research so far has been inconclusive. An article published in the July 19 issue of Science, however, shows for the first time that a specific genetic variation can affect feelings of fear and anxiety.