---

Slow wave activity (SWA), a stable trait dependent marker of the intensity of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, is lower in young healthy African-Americans in comparison to Caucasians who were matched for age, gender and body weight, as per a research abstract that will be presented Tuesday at SLEEP 2007, the 21st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS).

Dr. Esra Tasali and his colleagues at the University of Chicago collected overnight polysomnographic data from 12 African-Americans and 12 Caucasians, none of whom had any sleep complaints or disorders. The authors observed that African-Americans had markedly lower SWA as in comparison to Caucasians.

"The current findings provide evidence for ethnic differences in the intensity of NREM sleep," said Tasali. "Lower levels of SWA in African-Americans could be correlation to their reported poor sleep quality and higher risk for insulin resistance".

The amount of sleep a person gets affects his or her physical health, emotional well-being, mental abilities, productivity and performance. Recent studies associate lack of sleep with serious health problems such as an increased risk of depression, obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.


Posted by: Daniel    Source