Associations between self-reported sleep measures and dietary behaviours in a large sample of Australian school students (n = 28,010).

This study examined the associations between self-reported sleep timing and quality, and the frequency of breakfast and junk food consumption in 28,010 Australian school students (mean ± SD age = 13.3 ± 1.2 years, 51% male).

The Low-Event Task Subjective Situation Awareness (LETSSA) technique: Development and evaluation of a new subjective measure of situation awareness.

Situation awareness (SA) is an important component of an individual's ability to function in a complex environment. As such, it is essential to have effective measures of an individual's SA. The most widely used subjective measure of SA is the Situation Awareness Rating Technique [SART].

Effects of strategic early-morning caffeine gum administration on association between salivary alpha-amylase and neurobehavioural performance during 50 h of sleep deprivation.

Self-assessment is the most common method for monitoring performance and safety in the workplace. However, discrepancies between subjective and objective measures have increased interest in physiological assessment of performance. In a double-blind placebo-controlled study, 23 healthy adults were randomly assigned to either a placebo (n = 11; 5 F, 6 M) or caffeine condition (n = 12; 4 F, 8 M) while undergoing 50 h (i.

Changes in growth and sleep across school nights, weekends and a winter holiday period in two Australian schools.

Studies suggest that there may be an association between sleep and growth; however, the relationship is not well understood. Changes in biology and external factors such as school schedule heavily impact the sleep of adolescents, during a critical phase for growth. This study assessed the changes in sleep across school days, weekends and school holidays, while also measuring height and weight changes, and self-reported alterations in food intake and physical activity.

The impact of pre-sleep arousal state and strategy to control unwanted thoughts on sleep quality.

Objective: It has been questioned whether elevated pre-sleep cognitive arousal contributes to poor sleep or whether it is the use of maladaptive thought control strategies, used to manage this cognitive arousal, that are responsible. The study aimed to examine how these factors - cognitive arousal (with and without anxiety) and maladaptive thought control strategies contribute to perceived sleep quality (SQ).

Design: 129 "healthy adults" (46 males, 83 females) were exposed to picture-stimuli eliciting either anxious cognitive arousal or non-anxious cognitive arousal at bedtime.

Neurobehavioral Impairment and CPAP Treatment Response in Mild-Moderate Obstructive Sleep Apneas.

Study Objectives: The degree of neurobehavioral impairment and treatment response in mild-moderate obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) compared to that of an appropriate control group are unclear. This study compared neurobehavioral function and response to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment in patients with mild to moderate OSA with those of a non-sleep apneic community sample of similar demography.

Methods: One hundred ten patients with OSA and 31 asymptomatic community dwellers underwent overnight polysomnography and neurobehavioral testing.

Total dietary sugar consumption does not influence sleep or behaviour in Australian children.

This study aimed to compare sugar intake in Australian children with current guidelines and determine if total sugar consumption as a percentage of energy (sugar %E) exacerbates the relationship between sleep and behaviour. A sample of 287 children aged 8-12 years (boys 48.8%, age: 10.

A Model-Based Approach to Optimizing Ultradian Forced Desynchrony Protocols for Human Circadian Research.

The human circadian system regulates internal 24-h rhythmicity and plays an important role in many aspects of human health and behavior. To investigate properties of the human circadian pacemaker such as intrinsic period and light sensitivity, experimental researchers have developed forced desynchrony (FD) protocols in which manipulations of the light-dark (LD) cycle are used to desynchronize the intrinsic circadian rhythm from the rest-activity cycle. FD protocols have typically been based on exposure to long LD cycles, but recently, ultradian FD protocols with short LD cycles have been proposed as a new methodology for assessing intrinsic circadian period.

Short Daytime Naps Briefly Attenuate Objectively Measured Sleepiness Under Chronic Sleep Restriction.

Study Objectives: Napping is a useful countermeasure to the negative effects of acute sleep loss on alertness. The efficacy of naps to recover from chronic sleep loss is less well understood.

Methods: Following 2 baseline nights (10 hours' time-in-bed), participants were restricted to 7 nights of 5-hour sleep opportunity.

The impact of meal timing on performance, sleepiness, gastric upset, and hunger during simulated night shift.

This study examined the impact of eating during simulated night shift on performance and subjective complaints. Subjects were randomized to eating at night (n=5; 23.2 ± 5.

Timing of food intake during simulated night shift impacts glucose metabolism: A controlled study.

Eating during the night may increase the risk for obesity and type 2 diabetes in shift workers. This study examined the impact of either eating or not eating a meal at night on glucose metabolism. Participants underwent four nights of simulated night work (SW1-4, 16:00-10:00 h, <50 lux) with a daytime sleep opportunity each day (10:00-16:00 h, <3 lux).

A biopsychosocial model of violence when sleepwalking: review and reconceptualisation.

Summary: Violence towards others during sleepwalking is relatively uncommon, but can result in serious injury or even death. Much of the research in this field has focused on the forensic consequences of violence during sleepwalking without sufficient attention to an understanding of the risk factors for violence during sleepwalking and the development of prevention and interventions based on these risk factors. This paper reviews the characteristics of impulsive violence in general and reconceptualises violence during sleepwalking as an extension of this prior vulnerability.

A review of short naps and sleep inertia: do naps of 30 min or less really avoid sleep inertia and slow-wave sleep?

Objectives: Napping is a widely used countermeasure to sleepiness and impaired performance caused by sleep loss and circadian pressure. Sleep inertia, the period of grogginess and impaired performance experienced after waking, is a potential side effect of napping. Many industry publications recommend naps of 30 min or less to avoid this side effect.

Medication induced sleepwalking: A systematic review.

Medications that trigger sleepwalking may inadvertently put the patient at risk of injury to themselves and/or others, and contribute to poor treatment adherence. The aim of this study was to systematically review the literature to identify drugs that may increase the risk of sleepwalking. A search of CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycINFO, PubMed, and ScienceDirect was conducted with the keywords 'sleepwalking' OR 'somnambulism'.

An investigation of the longitudinal relationship between sleep and depressed mood in developing teens.

Objective: The prospective, bidirectional relationship between sleep disturbance and depressed mood was assessed in a school-based sample of adolescents.

Method: One hundred and thirty-eight Australian adolescents (mean age time 1 =15.69, standard deviation =0.

Validation of the Flinders Fatigue Scale as a measure of daytime fatigue.

Study Objectives: To clinically validate the Flinders Fatigue Scale (FFS) as a brief measure of daytime fatigue, and to derive cut-off scores to classify fatigue severity.

Method: The FFS was administered to 439 adult volunteers from the general population, 292 adults with insomnia, 132 adults with Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) and 66 adults with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME), together with the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS).

Results: A factor analysis revealed a single factor solution for the seven-item scale (67% of total variance), although a better fit was obtained for a modified six-item version (75% of total variance).

Decreased salivary alpha-amylase levels are associated with performance deficits during sleep loss.

During sleep deprivation, neurobehavioral functions requiring sustained levels of attention and alertness are significantly impaired. Discrepancies between subjective measures of sleepiness and objective performance during sustained operations have led to interest in physiological monitoring of operator performance. Alertness, vigilance, and arousal are modulated by the wake-promoting actions of the central noradrenergic system.

Digital media use in the 2 h before bedtime is associated with sleep variables in university students.

Digital media use is widespread in University students, and use of digital media near bedtime has a broadly negative effect on sleep outcomes. Adequate and good quality sleep is important for physical and mental health, but few studies have rigorously measured both sleep and digital media use. In this study, we investigated whether self-reported sleep patterns were associated with digital media use in a first-year University student (N = 254, 48% male) population.

The Relationship Between Caffeine, Sleep, and Behavior in Children.

Study Objectives: To examine caffeine consumption from various dietary sources in a cohort of Australian children and the relationship between caffeine consumption, sleep, and daytime behavior.

Methods: Children aged 8 to 12 years and their parents/guardians completed a battery of questionnaires. Children completed a caffeine questionnaire while parents completed questionnaires regarding demographics, sleep, and behavior.

Pharmacists' perceptions and communication of risk for alertness impairing medications.

Background: A core role of the pharmacist is to ensure safe and effective medication use. Therapeutic classes that impair alertness (e.g.

Validation and reproducibility of an Australian caffeine food frequency questionnaire.

The aim of this study was to measure validity and reproducibility of a caffeine food frequency questionnaire (C-FFQ) developed for the Australian population. The C-FFQ was designed to assess average daily caffeine consumption using four categories of food and beverages including; energy drinks; soft drinks/soda; coffee and tea and chocolate (food and drink). Participants completed a seven-day food diary immediately followed by the C-FFQ on two consecutive days.

An investigation into the prevalence of sleep disturbances in primary Sjögren's syndrome: a systematic review of the literature.

Objectives: To identify whether sleep disturbances are more prevalent in primary SS (pSS) patients compared with the general population and to recognize which specific sleep symptoms are particularly problematic in this population.

Methods: Electronic searches of the literature were conducted in PubMed, Medline (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), PsychINFO (Ovid) and Web of Science and the search strategy registered a priori . Titles and abstracts were reviewed by two authors independently against a set of prespecified inclusion/exclusion criteria, reference lists were examined and a narrative synthesis of the included articles was conducted.

Sleep Duration and Chronic Fatigue Are Differently Associated with the Dietary Profile of Shift Workers.

Shift work has been associated with dietary changes. This study examined factors associated with the dietary profiles of shift workers from several industries ( = 118, 57 male; age = 43.4 ± 9.

The effects of sleep restriction and sleep deprivation in producing false memories.

False memory has been claimed to be the result of an associative process of generalisation, as well as to be representative of memory errors. These can occur at any stage of memory encoding, consolidation, or retrieval, albeit through varied mechanisms. The aim of this paper is to experimentally determine: (i) if cognitive dysfunction brought about by sleep loss at the time of stimulus encoding can influence false memory production; and (ii) whether this relationship holds across sensory modalities.