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Brain Awareness Week 2015
Twenty years ago, the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives launched Brain Awareness Week (BAW) in the U.S. to celebrate and increase the public’s awareness of the progress and benefits of brain research.
Neuroscientist Dr. Deborah Yurgelun-Todd believes brain health research is lagged behind when compared to research in other health areas. It is harder to know for neuroscientists how to impact the brain's integrity.
Nevertheless, during the past decades there have been significant advances in brain imaging tools. An example of this is that neuroscientists are able to study some of the nutrients which exist naturally in the brain, and find out more about them and their functions. This could mean that in the near-future we will discover a lot more about the brain.
Furthermore, Dr. Yurgelun-Todd has seen a public shift in what people consider major health problems, with illnesses such as dementia gaining more attention, as compared to heart failure, for example.
For more information you can visit this website.
Sleep disorders
A somnipathy or sleep disorder involves disturbances of the normal sleep patterns of a person. Although this kind of disorder may not sound serious, some sleep disorders interfere with normal physical, mental, social and emotional functioning; and impair the lives of many. There even exists a horror movie with the name of a somnipathy, the 2008 film Parasomnia.
There exist a lot of different sleep disorders, the most common being insomnia, inability to fall asleep or maintain sleep. On the other hand, people suffering from narcolepsy, also known as excessive daytime sleepiness, often fall asleep unwillingly; in extreme cases narcoleptics fall asleep while standing up or walking.
Sleep apnea is a disorder in which there is a lack of sufficient deep sleep caused by obstruction of our airways, this results in people feeling exhausted after a long night of sleep. In some cases, a patient might wake up in sleep paralysis, in this state the person wakes up mentally, but is unable to move because his or her body is still "asleep"; this often causes horrifying experiences to the patients. In the newsletter of next month we will go further into this type of disorder.
Although most causes of sleep disorders are unknow, there exist some risk factors for several sleep disorders, including smoking, drinking alcohol, obesity, diabetes or physical inactivity. If you do not sleep right, and symptoms are serious enough to be interfering with your normal life, it is recommended you see a doctor.
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