Several people who suffer from sleep apnea are also overweight or obese. There is a direct relationship between the disease and obesity as is found in many cases. Sleep apnea is a condition that causes pauses in the breathing pattern and it also make the person snore while sleeping.

Pauses in breathing can actually be dangerous as it may lead to cardiac arrests. The breathing pauses cause irregularities in blood flow and the person, who goes through it several times during the night, is likely to develop a breathing disorder. It has also been found that diabetes, sleep apnea and obesity are closely related and found together in several people. However, what comes first and what leads to what is very confusing to find out as they all exist together and one condition worsens the other.

Over a period of time these three together can become deadly for the person. Also, a person who avoids gaining excessive weight even with diabetes has high chances of curing sleep apnea. People who watch their weight through exercise and healthy diet in spite of having a condition like sleep apnea can actually get rid of the problem.

People with this disorder should aim at sleeping on time and getting good night’s sleep. Some eating habits can promote sleep while others may disrupt sleep. People who eat more rich and heavy food in the night like rice and starchy food have higher episodes of the disorder. The best way to cure the disease and keep obesity under control is to eat frequent meals in moderate quantities.

One of the most important things we can do for our health is sleep. It is at this time our bodies are supposed to repair itself, but we ignore this process to the point of a physical breakdown. This is also a time for mental rest which you may not always be able to do.

The first thing you want to look for is concentration or lack of concentration. This is one symptom that you might attribute to another problem which is completely unrelated to sleep. You may think 4-5 hours is plenty, or you may nor even know your sleep is not a “good” sleep. This means a continuous, deep sleep. Tossing and turning is a sign your sleep is not good.

The second thing we look for is reaction. If you notice your reaction time to things are slower than usual you might suspect poor sleep. This can lead to poor performance on the job, relationship problems and just constant irritability. At this point you might want to take a sleep test. Your doctor can set this up and a overnight stay at the sleep center will be required. They will monitor you on video along with sensors attached to monitor other body functions. If snoring is an issue this is the perfect time to find out the truth.

Don’t under estimate the importance of sleep and don’t let this spread into bigger problems. Nature has included this in us for a purpose and today’s lifestyles don’t always accommodate this process, but be aware of sleeps benefits.

There are supplements and techniques to help you get a better quality sleep, take the time to read about them.?

An international team of researchers led by scientists at the Mayo Clinic campus in Florida have found what they believe is the first mutated gene linked to restless legs syndrome, a common neurologic disorder.

The researchers, who reported the findings in the July 21 issue of Neurology, doubt that a large proportion of the millions of people who suffer from the syndrome have this mutated MEIS1 gene. They point out, however, that understanding the function of both the normal and abnormal genes will shed some insights into this mysterious disorder.

Restless legs syndrome affects between 5 and 11 percent of the population in Europe and in North America. The condition is characterized by unpleasant sensations in the legs at rest, especially in the evening, that are temporarily relieved by movement. Because restless legs syndrome often interrupts sleep, people commonly are diagnosed after they consult a sleep specialist for assistance.

“We think restless legs syndrome may be due to a number of clinical factors, but we also believe that there is a strong genetic component to the disorder,” says the study’s lead investigator, Carles Vilariño-Güell, Ph.D., a neuroscientist at Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville.

“The mutation we found is in a portion of the protein that is identical in species as distinct to human as frogs and fish, which tells us that this portion is very important for the proper function of the protein and that the mutation has a very high chance of causing disease,” he says.

While common variants (different versions) of MEIS1 and BTBD9, another associated gene, have been found in families with a high incidence of restless legs syndrome, it is not clear that those variants are capable of causing disease, Dr. Vilariño-Güell says. “This mutation, on the other hand, is the first that we think can be a real candidate for causing or promoting restless legs syndrome,” he says.

Researchers did not find mutations in the BTBD9 gene in study participants, but they found one in the MEIS1 gene that resulted in the production of an aberrant protein. The family that has the MEIS1 mutation consists of six members. Three who had restless legs syndrome had the mutation and the other three without the disease did not. “The presence of the mutation in all affected individuals supports a pathogenic role for the MEIS1 gene, and we now need to confirm this finding with other international research groups who study restless legs syndrome,” Dr. Vilariño-Güell says.

Researchers from Canada, Ireland, and Norway also participated in the study. In total 378 restless legs syndrome patients and 853 healthy participants were evaluated for the presence of this newly discovered mutation in their DNA. This analysis only identified one additional individual from Ireland who did not present any symptoms of restless legs syndrome. This suggests that the gene defect may need additional triggers to develop the syndrome, Dr. Vilariño-Güell says. “This gene is probably not the most common cause of restless legs syndrome in the population we studied, but it may be more prevalent in other regions of the world,” he says.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, and a research grant from Mayo Clinic.

About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy of “the needs of the patient come first.” More than 3,300 physicians, scientists and researchers and 46,000 allied health staff work at Mayo Clinic, which has sites in Rochester, Minn., Jacksonville, Fla., and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz. Collectively, the three locations treat more than half a million people each year. Mayo Clinic Health Manager is operated by Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research.

Source: Mayo Clinic