Michael Jackson Went 60 Days Without 'Real' Sleep, Expert Says

Michael Jackson's profound difficulty sleeping has taken center stage in the controversy surrounding his death, with expert testimony at his wrongful death trial suggesting the pop singer went a full 60 days without "real" sleep.

Jackson reportedly called propofol, the powerful anesthetic that ultimately caused his 2009 death, his "milk." Charles Czeisler, M.D., Ph.D., from the Division Of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School, testified at the trial against concert promoter AEG Live that the drug interrupts normal sleep cycles and deprives the body of rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep, all while making a person feel as though he or she has had a true night's sleep, CNN reports.

"It would be like eating some sort of cellulose pellets instead of dinner," Czeisler said in his testimony, according to CNN. "Your stomach would be full and you would not be hungry, but it would be zero calories and not fulfill any of your nutrition needs."

Throughout the night, the body cycles through four stages of sleep: three non-REM stages and one REM stage (for more on what happens during each stage, click here). Each complete cycle takes about 90 minutes, typically ending in REM sleep, Phillip Gehrman, Ph.D., clinical director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at the University of Pennsylvania, tells The Huffington Post. The first REM cycle is fairly short, about 10 minutes, and the cycles get longer throughout the night, up to an hour or so, according to WebMD.

During REM sleep, brain activity looks very similar to wakefulness, Gehrman explains, earning the nickname of "paradoxical sleep." "Your eyes are moving rapidly around as if you're scanning your environment," he says. This is also the dreaming portion of sleep, and the body's muscles are temporarily paralyzed to keep you from acting out those dreams. (That explains why when woken from REM sleep, people sometimes experience a condition called sleep paralysis. Another sleep condition, REM behavior disorder, can occur when that paralysis doesn't happen properly and a person does act out his or her dreams.)

While scientists don't totally understand the function of REM sleep in overall health, it's widely believed to play an important role in memory consolidation and perhaps also in the processing of emotions, Gehrman says.

Propofol, the anesthetic Jackson was taking, is a potent supressor of REM sleep, says W. Christopher Winter, M.D., medical director of the Martha Jefferson Hospital Sleep Medicine Center in Va., who did not evaluate Jackson.

"Propofol induces unconsciousness. There's a difference between being unconscious and being asleep," he tells HuffPost. "Sleep is a whole spectrum process: REM sleep, deep sleep, hormone release. These things may not be happening when you're just unconscious."

Severe REM-sleep deprivation can likely affect mood, concentration, focus, pain tolerance and memory, Winter says. According to CNN, Czeisler testified that lab rats die after going five weeks without REM sleep:

Depriving someone of REM sleep for a long period of time makes them paranoid, anxiety-filled, depressed, unable to learn, distracted, and sloppy, Czeisler testified. They lose their balance and appetite, while their physical reflexes get 10 times slower and their emotional responses 10 times stronger, he said.

But Winter adds a note of caution: When Jackson on the propofol, REM sleep would have been suppressed at night, but we probably don't know if he was catching any sleep during the day, perhaps nodding off without even realizing it. When the brain is severely deprived of REM sleep, it enters that stage much more quickly, a phenomenon called REM pressure, Winter says.

Both Gehrman and Winter say Jackson's case is unique; the typical patient doesn't need to worry about REM-sleep deprivation. If you think you're not dreaming, it might just be that you can't remember your dreams, not that you aren't having them, Gehrman explains.

"REM deprivation is very hard and it's not something that the average individual, even somebody who has really significant problems with their sleep, really needs to worry about," Winter says.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/21/michael-jackson-sleep-propofol-rem_n_3479261.html

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FAA expected to relax ban on gadgets on takeoffs and landings

Don't expect to make phone calls, though, even if e-readers and tablets approved for takeoff and landing

You might no longer have to worry whether you shut off that gadget as your plane takes to the sky. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Federal Aviation Administration -- in part to get with the times and in part because so many passengers don't actually shut down everything with an on/off switch -- will relax the blanket ban on some personal electronic devices below 10,000 feet.

The policy shift, which hasn't been officially announced yet, isn't expected to address phone usage, so it's unsure yet whether airplane mode would suffice, or whether you'll have to tuck away anything that doesn't look like a small tablet. And that could get interesting given that half of all new Android smartphones essentially are small tablets. It's also not yet known whether you'd have Wifi access during takeoff and landing.

A formal decision isn't expected until the fall.

Source: WSJ (paywall); photo courtesy Jason Rabinowitz 

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/-2RDby4xNrM/story01.htm

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Rules dictate the NSA can store collected communications of US ...

The Guardian today published a 9 page document from the NSA, signed by US Attorney General Eric Holder, outlining how the NSA treats communications data that is collected ?inadvertently? from United States citizens.

If you were hoping that the government would, upon realizing that it had snagged communications data from domestics, delete the contents and walk away, prepare for disappointment. Here?s the first key passage of the document:

Read carefully, information collected can be maintained for five years, and this data is anything that was picked up due to a ?limitation? on the NSA?s ability to pare down what come in its door. This creates a perverse incentive for the NSA to collect as broadly as it can, as whatever it can?t filter up front may be more than useful later on; the technical limitations inherent to its systems them may be the precise tools it wants in place.

What are the circumstances under which the NSA might hold on to domestic communication information? Let?s find out:

The NSA can hold onto the private communications information that it hoovered by accident provided that it ?reasonably believes? contains important information concerning foreign entities, or contains evidence of crime, past or future, or contains ?technical data base information? concerning potential vulnerabilities, or could contain information about the destruction of life or property.

That is an incredibly broad set of circumstances; what counts as ?foreign intelligence information,? for example, could be construed any number of ways. The cause of harm to property is also exceptionally vague; does it extend to digital property, or intellectual property?

The Guardian sums the above succinctly: the above rules ?allow [the] NSA to use US data without a warrant.? Ding.

The issue here is that the NSA is widely believed to be tapping directly into the core fiber bundles of the Internet. And as such, is storing unfathomable amounts of data. Data that it could never filter to any granular level during collection. As such, anything and everything that a United States citizen does online could be collected, and held ? under a vague hand-wave at one of the above categories ? without the need for a warrant or any public notice.

That?s simply unacceptable.

Top Image Credit:?Alberto P. Veiga

Source: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/06/20/the-nsa-can-retain-and-use-data-inadvertently-collected-from-communications-of-us-citizens/

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Bus company owner faces charges from 2008 crash (Providence Journal)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/313888478?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Total amount of exercise important, not frequency, research shows

Public release date: 20-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jenny Ryan
jenny.ryan@nrcresearchpress.com
Canadian Science Publishing (NRC Research Press)

A new study by Queen's University researchers has determined that adults who accumulated 150 minutes of exercise on a few days of the week were not any less healthy than adults who exercised more frequently throughout the week.

Ian Janssen and his graduate student Janine Clarke studied 2,324 adults from across Canada to determine whether the frequency of physical activity throughout the week is associated with risk factors for diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

"The findings indicate that it does not matter how adults choose to accumulate their 150 weekly minutes of physical activity," says Dr. Janssen. "For instance, someone who did not perform any physical activity on Monday to Friday but was active for 150 minutes over the weekend would obtain the same health benefits from their activity as someone who accumulated 150 minutes of activity over the week by doing 20-25 minutes of activity on a daily basis."

Physical activity was measured continuously throughout the week by having research participants wear accelerometers on their waists. Accelerometers are tiny electrical devices (about the size of a small package of matches) that record how much a person moves every minute.

Dr. Janssen divided the adults who met the physical activity guidelines (more than 150 minutes per week of aerobic activity) into those who were frequently active (active five to seven days of the week) and infrequently active (active one to four days of the week).

"The important message is that adults should aim to accumulate at least 150 minutes of weekly physical activity in whatever pattern that works for their schedule."

###

The paper was published today in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism and is available open access at http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/apnm-2013-0049#.UcMH7Jzm_Wg

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 20-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jenny Ryan
jenny.ryan@nrcresearchpress.com
Canadian Science Publishing (NRC Research Press)

A new study by Queen's University researchers has determined that adults who accumulated 150 minutes of exercise on a few days of the week were not any less healthy than adults who exercised more frequently throughout the week.

Ian Janssen and his graduate student Janine Clarke studied 2,324 adults from across Canada to determine whether the frequency of physical activity throughout the week is associated with risk factors for diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

"The findings indicate that it does not matter how adults choose to accumulate their 150 weekly minutes of physical activity," says Dr. Janssen. "For instance, someone who did not perform any physical activity on Monday to Friday but was active for 150 minutes over the weekend would obtain the same health benefits from their activity as someone who accumulated 150 minutes of activity over the week by doing 20-25 minutes of activity on a daily basis."

Physical activity was measured continuously throughout the week by having research participants wear accelerometers on their waists. Accelerometers are tiny electrical devices (about the size of a small package of matches) that record how much a person moves every minute.

Dr. Janssen divided the adults who met the physical activity guidelines (more than 150 minutes per week of aerobic activity) into those who were frequently active (active five to seven days of the week) and infrequently active (active one to four days of the week).

"The important message is that adults should aim to accumulate at least 150 minutes of weekly physical activity in whatever pattern that works for their schedule."

###

The paper was published today in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism and is available open access at http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/apnm-2013-0049#.UcMH7Jzm_Wg

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/csp-tao062013.php

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Of Course a Cheese Store Has a Tiny Grater Business Card

Since printing its address and contact details on a slice of muenster cheese would probably do more harm than good for Bon Vivant, the Brazilian-based cheese shop hired ad agency JWT to come up with something better. And in every way possible, this miniature cheese grater business card is a much better idea.

So as not to also turn your wallet into a pile of shredded leather, the grater comes in a protective sleeve, which probably also helps to minimize the inevitable cheese smell from permeating your pocket. And that's also why the garlic growers of the world should just forget about trying a similar gimmick to promote their product.

[Stocklogos via Taxi]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/of-course-a-cheese-store-has-a-tiny-grater-business-car-505465406

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The Importance Of Keeping Ernest

By Susan Vaughan Moshofsky for Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers

?Can I bring home Ernest, Mommy?? four-year-old Reed begged. ?For the summer?? Ernest, the preschool class turtle, for the whole summer. I loathe reptiles.

Reed clung like a barnacle when I dropped him off at preschool and melted down when I finally peeled him off. Keeping the turtle might ease Reed?s re-entry to school next fall. Plus, he?d earn celebrity status. I nodded.

?Here are his worms,? Teacher Lynn handed me a small plastic tub with tiny holes in the top. She smiled at the grimace on my face. ?Keep it in the refrigerator or they turn into beetles.?

Lynn also suggested outings for Ernest in our back yard. ?He likes the fresh air,? she explained. I wondered how she could tell.

Only a mother desperate to help her shy child adjust to school would keep a turtle that?s been the preschool pet for twelve years. And this isn?t just any preschool. People put their babies on the wait list in utero for this one. These parents pay attention. So Ernest?s stay had to be perfect.

First I had to find a safe spot for his aquarium-style tank, away from our slobbering, curious Labrador Retriever. My choice: the kitchen counter. Yes, Ernest lived near my stove, and yes, turtles carry salmonella. Let?s just say if I can keep worms in my refrigerator, I can have a turtle on my countertop.

I congratulated myself for being such a great mom. (Look! I let my kids keep pets I can?t stand to touch!)

Two weekends later, my husband Brett helped Reed scrub the tank while Ernest took a stroll on the kitchen floor. I practiced my deep breathing exercises. The task done, Reed and his older brother Ryan gave Ernest his first backyard airing.

While Ernest?s tank dried in the sun, he lumbered through the flower garden, neck outstretched, enjoying the fresh air. Ryan and Reed kept an eye on him. But since he moved at -- well, a turtle?s pace -- they checked on him in between slides down the hill. I planted some perennials. Rachel, our teenage daughter, lay tanning on the deck. Life was good.

Good until Ryan hollered, ?Where?s Ernest??

?What do you mean, ?Where?s Ernest???

?I can?t find him, Mom. He was here just a minute ago.?

Choking back vomit, I ran to the flower bed where Ernest had been. No turtle. Get a grip, I thought.

?Well, he can?t be far.? I barked orders to all three kids. ?Rachel, establish a perimeter; Ryan, check the inside of the dog?s mouth?? We scrambled through flower beds, peered under bushes, combed the hillside. Even the dog sniffed around.

An hour later, still no trace. Turtles don?t leave footprints or make a sound. And Ernest?s coloring was the perfect camouflage for our wooded backyard.

?Rachel,? I begged my daughter, ?Call Petco. See if they sell box turtles.? She ran inside to make the call. Ryan and Reed pulled ivy. I made silent bargains with the Almighty.

?Mom,? Rachel called down to me from the deck. ?I called them. We can?t get one.?

?What do you mean, we can?t get one??

?They said it?s not legal to sell box turtles here, Mom!?

There I stood, knee deep in plants I had yanked in our frenzy to find little Speedo. I pictured myself lugging Ernest?s empty cage back into the classroom. I pictured wide-eyed children peering into that empty cage. I imagined Reed?s expression as the children pointed stubby fingers at him -- the turtle loser.

My husband came back from his run and saw us razing our freshly landscaped garden. ?What?s going on?? he asked.

Gesturing with dirty hands in a pose reminiscent of Edvard Munch?s The Scream, I wailed, ?We lost the pre-school turtle!?

Brett?s expression told me it was time to call the teacher.

?My first concern is the kids,? Teacher Lynn began. ?This will be the first real loss for some of them. We?ll have to tell them the truth.? As she paused, I realized just how deep a pit of bile had collected in my stomach. She asked if Reed was worried and suggested I emphasize the fun Ernest might be having on his adventure. ?But the little guy has done this before: one summer, he was gone for three months and turned up in a neighbor?s yard,? she continued. Now you tell me, I thought. ?You may find him yet,? Lynn reassured. I hung up, feeling ill. I had to do something.

I called Reptile World, described our hilly area and asked if a turtle could survive there. ?He?ll have nutrition and hydration. He might winter over just fine there,? the reptile expert told me. Winter over? The return to preschool was less than two months away.

We printed up flyers: Lost Box Turtle. Answers to the name of Ernest. Size of a teacup saucer. Reward! Many neighbors, some I?d never met, fought smiles when we knocked on their doors, brandishing the flyer.

?I?m really worried,? I said to Brett later that night. ?Could we rent some heat-seeking infrared binoculars to help us find him in all the brush??

Brett bit his lip. ?Sue, honey, Ernest is cold blooded.?

The summer passed. The first few weeks, Reed and Ryan filled Ernest?s food dish daily with strawberries, worms, and grapes and set out small water dishes around the yard. But gradually, their daily backyard searches gave way to twice-weekly searches.

If I talked about Ernest, Reed murmured happily, ?He?s in the backyard on an adventure, Mommy. Now I get to keep him for always!?

Soon it was September, time for the back to school open house. Filled with dread, I sneaked in and stood by the coffee, trying to hide my scarlet E. Lynn took me aside. ?Two boys asked where Ernest was. Before I could answer, one of them remembered that Reed took him home for the summer.?

I gulped, speechless. Lynn nodded. ?I?ll be letting the parents know a little later tonight. But I won?t tell which backyard he was in,? she winked. My coffee tasted like mud. I walked to the classroom meeting like a condemned woman.

I tuned out Teacher Lynn?s welcome back talk. But I sat bolt upright when she added, ?I have some other news. Ernest has gone missing. He was in a backyard and just wandered off.?

The room was as quiet as a turtle cage. My face grew hot. My scalp prickled. I realized I might as well spill the beans since a four year old had already figured out the truth.

?The backyard where Ernest wandered off,? I began in a small voice, ?was mine. We are the ones who lost him.? When I got to the part about the flyers we printed and the infrared binoculars, my voice trailed off.

There was a silence, then a chuckle. ?Let?s take Sue out for a glass of wine. She?s had a rough summer,? a couple of moms sympathized. Another mom blurted, ?I?m just so glad I didn?t volunteer to take him!? And then everyone in the room laughed out loud.

Want to read more thought-provoking essays? Subscribe to Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers and see why we?ve been receiving awards for literary excellence since 2000.

Earlier on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/15/the-importance-of-keeping-ernest_n_3275666.html

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