Dr. Michael J. Breus

When you're busy with work and responsibilities at home, does your sleep suffer? Do you get to bed later than you'd planned, or wake in the early morning already thinking about all you need to tackle during the day? If so, you have a lot of company.

Those fun, harmless-looking energy drinks in the colorful bottles that you see everywhere these days? Those beverages with "natural" ingredients, marketed to all of us -- especially our kids -- as an alternative to soda? Turns out these drinks aren't so harmless.

Concerns about the effects of

There's no room in our homes we spend more time in than the bedroom. You can say I'm biased, but I think it's the most important room in the house. The National Sleep Foundation has just released the results of its first-ever "Bedroom Poll," which is...

This story of a veteran Jet Blue pilot's breakdown during a cross-country flight made headlines recently. Now we're learning more about the details of what happened during the flight, and about the investigation into this frightening and disturbing episode. It's no surprise that investigators are exploring...

Insomnia is a difficult and persistent sleep disorder, one that can come about for many reasons and, once evident, can linger for months or even years. It's also a sleep disorder that is on the rise in the United Kingdom. The results of a recent, large-scale and long-term

Despite the old adage, "sleeping like a baby," we know that children are at risk for many of the same sleep disorders as adults. Sleep-disordered breathing is a problem among children -- even very young children. This news reveals some of the negative consequences of untreated sleep-disordered breathing...

Real Age has just published its ranking of the best and worst cities for sleep in the U.S., part of its "2012 Oldest and Youngest Cities" report. There's good news for residents of cities like Charlotte, N.C., Philadelphia, and Austin, Texas -- you are...

Wall Street jobs are coveted and highly competitive; they're also notoriously demanding. It's not a stretch to imagine the long hours, intense pressure and grueling pace of Wall Street work could take its toll on sleep and overall health. A new study confirms just that. This

Here's some news of workers sleeping on the job that's downright scary. A news investigation produced this story and footage of air traffic controllers at Westchester County Airport sleeping during their shifts. The video, provided to the news outlet by an employee in the air traffic control tower...

It's a mantra from physicians, sleep experts and other health professionals we've come to expect: Teenagers are short on sleep. This lack of sleep contributes to a range of problems, including poor decision-making and reduced academic performance. As a result, widely accepted guidelines for teens include getting in...

Here is yet another health risk associated with sleep apnea: stroke. The news that sleep apnea is a risk factor for stroke isn't new. We've known for some time that sleep apnea is associated with elevated risk of stroke. But this new research shows just how common sleep...

I write regularly about the state of sleep deprivation in today's society. This sleep deprived situation isn't going to be helped by the start of daylight saving time this Sunday, March 11. The time change in the spring is always more difficult than in the fall since we...

It's not every day that a news story about circadian rhythms shoots to the top of the "most read" list in a major newspaper. But that's exactly what happened with this story about how the aging of our eyes may affect our circadian clocks and, in turn, our...

Is sleep tourism the next big thing? Around the world, hotels, spas and even nightclubs are designing getaways that cater to a sleep-deprived clientele. Here are a few of the most indulgent sleep getaways from around the world, according to the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper:

• In London, the...

This news concerns me both as a health issue and an issue of public safety: A survey of nearly 5,000 police officers in the U.S. and Canada revealed that these law enforcement professionals are frequently suffering from sleep problems -- and this lack of sleep is negatively affecting...

There's still a great deal of information about the effects of sleep on the brain that we don't yet understand, so any research that sheds light on this subject is exciting and potentially important. We know that sleep has restorative, cognitively-enhancing effects. We also know the absence of sleep can...

Listen up, partners and spouses of people with sleep apnea: Treating obstructive sleep apnea with CPAP works best when it's a team effort. That's the takeaway from a recent research review, which examined dozens of studies in an effort to identify the most effective ways to help patients...

Sleep was in the news throughout 2011, with breakthrough research and advances in our understanding of why we sleep, and how sleep -- or a lack of it -- can affect health and wellbeing. Here are my picks for the most interesting and important sleep stories from the second half...

The year that just ended was a big one for sleep, with lots of important, news-making stories related to sleep and sleep disorders. Here are my picks for the biggest sleep stories of 2011, and the most important sleep advice to come from this year's most compelling research into sleep.

There's some important news for millions of people -- most of them women -- who suffer from the syndrome fibromyalgia: a new study suggests that sleep deprivation is associated with an increased risk of developing fibromyalgia.

The study was conducted at the Norwegian University of Science...