Sleepless Night Can Bring on Euphoria and Risky Behavior

A sleepless night can make us cranky and moody. But a lesser known side effect of sleep deprivation is short-term euphoria, which can potentially lead to poor judgment and addictive behavior, according to new research from the University of California.

Researchers at UC Berkeley and Harvard Medical School studied the brains of healthy young adults and found that their pleasure circuitry got a big boost after a missed night's sleep. But that same neural pathway that stimulates feelings of euphoria, reward and motivation after a sleepless night may also lead to risky behavior. "When functioning correctly, the brain finds the sweet spot on the mood spectrum. But the sleep-deprived brain will swing to both extremes, neither of which is optimal for making wise decisions," said Matthew Walker, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at UC Berkeley and lead author of the study. The findings, published March 22, in the Journal of Neuroscience, underscore the need for people in high-stakes professions and circumstances not to shortchange themselves on sleep, Walker said. "We need to ensure that people making high-stakes decisions, from medical professionals to airline pilots to new parents, get enough sleep," Walker said. "Based on this evidence, I'd be concerned by an emergency room doctor who's been up for 20 hours straight making rational decisions about my health."
The body alternates between two main phases of sleep during the night: Rapid Eye Movement (REM), when body and brain activity promote dreams, and Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM), when the muscles and brain rest. Previous brain studies indicate that these sleep patterns are disrupted in people with mood disorders. Puzzled as to why so many people with clinical depression feel more positive after a sleepless night -- at least temporarily -- the researchers used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to study the brains of 27 young adults, half of whom got a good night's rest and the other half of whom pulled an all-nighter.

Parents Key in Keeping Teens off Alcohol

Parents who are both present and engaged are the very best way of preventing teenagers from consuming large quantities of alcohol. Adolescents who smoke, stay out with their friends and have access to alcohol -- from their parents, for example -- when they are as young as 13 are at greater risk of becoming binge drinkers in their late teens, reveals a new thesis from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.

"Initiatives that focus on strengthening the parent-child relationship and limiting parental provision of alcohol can prove effective in limiting risky consumption among adolescents," says Anna-Karin Danielsson from the Department of Public Health Sciences. "Parents also play an important role when it comes to teaching young people how to resist peer pressure to drink."

In her thesis, Danielsson monitored 1,200 pupils from the age of 13 to the age of 19 between 2001 and 2006, and investigated which factors can reduce the risk of high alcohol consumption (protective factors) and which constitute risk factors.

The results show that adolescents exhibiting risky behavior in their early teens need help quickly as they are at greater risk of high consumption in the future, and of associated problems with their health, school, parents and friends, for example. This is where parental input can make all the difference.

"But boys and girls are slightly different," says Anna-Karin Danielsson. "The risk of high alcohol consumption among boys who smoke and who have friends who drink is considerably reduced when parents keep an eye on what teenagers get up to, and with whom. Whereas girls in the risk zone benefit most from an emotionally stable and close parentchild relationship in terms of protective effect."

The thesis also examines alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems among youngsters in 23 European countries. It is clear that the Nordic countries and the UK differ from the other European countries in that it is as common for girls to drink large quantities of alcohol in one session as it is for boys. In other countries, boys report higher alcohol consumption and more alcohol-related problems than girls.

Mini-Stroke Doubles Risk of Heart Attack

Patients who have suffered a "mini stroke" are at twice the risk of heart attack than the general population, according to research reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

These mini-strokes, called transient-ischemic attacks, or TIAs, occur when a blood clot temporarily blocks a blood vessel to the brain. Although the symptoms are similar to a stroke, a TIA is shorter ─ usually lasting only minutes or a few hours ─ and does not cause long-term disability.

A TIA, also called a "warning stroke," signals a high risk of a subsequent, larger stroke. In this study, the risk of heart attack among TIA patients was about 1 % a year, double that of people who had never had a TIA. This increased risk persisted for years and was highest among patients under age 60, who were 15 times more likely than non-TIA patients to have a heart attack. In the study, the average length of time between a first TIA and a heart attack was five years.

Researchers also found that TIA patients who later had a heart attack were three times more likely than those who did not have a heart attack to die during study follow-up.

Factors that independently increased the risk of heart attack after TIA included: male gender; older age; and use of cholesterollowering medications.Most heart attacks are caused by coronary-artery disease, which occurs when a blood clot blocks blood and oxygen flow in a blood vessel leading to the heart. Although coronary-artery disease is the primary cause of death among TIA patients, limited data exist on the incidence of heart attack after TIA.
TIA and stroke warning signs are sudden:
* Numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, often on only one side of the body
* Confusion and trouble speaking or understanding others
* Diff iculty seeing
* Trouble walking, feelings of dizziness and loss of balance or coordination
* Severe headache of unknown cause The presence of any of these signs warrants a call to 9-1-1 for immediate medical attention.