The symptoms of restless legs syndrome (RLS) usually involve legs and can extend to other body parts. However, isolated body parts other than leg have rarely been involved. A 32-year-old woman had abnormal sensations of both forearms and face during night, which caused a difficulty falling in sleep. The symptoms were relieved by shaking and rubbing. She experienced a clear benefit from pramipexole, but a recurrence of restlessness was followed in both arms subsequent to pramipexole withdrawal. Finally, she had been prescribed a dose of 0.375 mg, which was well tolerated for 6 years. We report a case of nocturnal restless arms and face without leg involvement, which was like RLS in terms of clinical criteria except lesion site.
Accidental Falls ; Adult ; Arm* ; Dopamine Agonists* ; Dopamine* ; Female ; Forearm ; Human Body ; Humans ; Leg ; Psychomotor Agitation ; Recurrence ; Restless Legs Syndrome* ; Sensation

OBJECTIVES: The current study aimed to explore the relationship between subjective sleep, emotions, social support and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), and extract the strongest predictor of EDS in female undergraduate students. METHODS: Our subjects consisted of 168 female undergraduate students (mean age 21.64±1.66). All participants completed Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Insomnia Severity Index, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Social Support Scale, and the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire. RESULTS: There were significant associations between insomnia, anxiety, depression with EDS, but not with subjective total sleep time of workdays and freedays. Also, 23.8% (n=40) of subjects endorsed clinical levels of EDS (ESS>10). Insomnia, anxiety, and depression were higher, and social support was lower in the EDS group compared to the normal group. Finally, we explored factors that influenced EDS, resulting in anxiety and social support being the strongest predictors of EDS. Social support was the strongest predictor of EDS compared to other predictors (β=-0.276, p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that social support may be important to consider in female undergraduate students who experience EDS.
Anxiety ; Depression ; Female* ; Humans ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders

OBJECTIVES: To investigate sleep-wake patterns and chronotype in rapidly rotating shift nurses (SRN). METHODS: We translated and back-translated the Korean Munich ChronoType for Shift-Workers (K-MCTQ(shift)) with original authors' permission. In this study, 353 full-time, SRN (age 28.7±3.95 years 341 females, mean shift–working duration=5 years 9 months) at one university hospital completed the K-MCTQ(shift) and the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ). Time in bed, sleep duration, and mid-sleep time (sleep onset time+1/2 sleep duration) were evaluated on work days and free days. Social jet lag was computed for each shift. Chronotype was assessed based on the mid-sleep time on free days corrected for sleep debt accumulated over the workweek (MSF(SC)). RESULTS: Sleep duration on workdays were 5.2 hours (day shift, D), 7.7 hours (evening shift, E), and 5.7 hours (night shift, N), respectively. Alarm clock usage on workdays was the highest in day-shifts (92.4%). The chronotype of 166 SRN who did not use alarm on free days was 6:09 h. Social jet lag was the longest in day-shifts (3.3 hours), and the shortest in evening-shifts (0.3 hour). Mid-sleep after the evening-shift (MSW(E), MSF(E), MSF(E)(SC)) showed significant correlations with MEQ scores. CONCLUSIONS: The Korean MCTQ(shift) provides actual sleep-wake patterns per shift schedule and chronotype in shift workers. We suggest that the sleep-corrected version of mid-sleep on free days after evening shifts (MSF(E)(SC)) is suitable for assessing chronotype in shift workers.
Appointments and Schedules ; Female ; Humans

OBJECTIVES: The positive effects of nap on cognitive function and memory have been researched intensively among children and adults. However, the relationship between afternoon nap and executive function among sleep deprived late adolescents has not been studied as much. METHODS: Ten sleep deprived, otherwise healthy Korean high school students were recruited, and asked to fill out Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index questionnaire. They were put to nap for 5 min on three days during the first week, then for 10, 20, and 30 min in the same protocol during the consecutive weeks. After a 1-h class, both the students themselves and their corresponding teachers evaluated the participation level of the participants. They were then divided into two groups, and were instructed to play iPad game ‘Free Flow’. One group took a nap while the other group was prohibited from taking a nap. Both groups were instructed to play the game again. This was repeated once every afternoon for three days. RESULTS: The experiment showed that 20-min nap was superior in subjective evaluations to the other nap duration, and the mean game score differences before and after were significantly higher in the nap taking group after the 20-min nap when analyzed using non-parametric statistical method (p-value 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, 20-min nap is likely to boost planning domain of executive function on sleep deprived late adolescents.
Adolescent* ; Adult ; Child ; Cognition ; Executive Function* ; Humans ; Memory ; Methods ; Sleep Deprivation

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect of electrical automatic massage (EAM) at bedtime on sleep quality and fatigue. METHODS: We recruited consecutively 35 adults (23 male, 48.7±8.07 y) who complained of poor sleep (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index≥5) and fatigue (Chalder Fatigue Scale≥4). This is a cross over study including two consecutive sleep studies with or without EAM. The EAM session includes preset ‘sleep mode’, which last 30 minutes covering whole body. Participants were seated in the commercially available massage chair (REX-L®) under the calm and dim light condition immediately before polysomnography. Participants reported perceived sleep latency, sleep duration, and fatigue using visual analogue scale following morning. RESULTS: Polysomnography parameters and subjective reports were compared between sleep with EAM and sleep without EAM. Paired comparison on average revealed sleep structure improvement N1 (13.6→10.9%) and N2 sleep (59.3→57.2%) decreased, and N3 sleep increased (3.0→6.4%), as well as sleep latency (10.3→5.6 min). Improvement in arousal index (17.1→13.0/h) and apnea-hypopnea index (9.1→7.0/h) were also seen following sleep after EAM. Sleep efficiency and total sleep time were not changed by EAM. Participants subjective reports also indicated better sleep on EAM; more lengthened sleep (306→330 minutes) and more relieved fatigue significantly after EAM. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that muscle relaxation through EAM at bedtime may improve the sleep and alleviate fatigue. It suggests that EAM may be one of alternatives to promote sleep quality. Further studies in a clinical setting are warranted to support this finding.
Adult ; Arousal ; Fatigue* ; Humans ; Male ; Massage* ; Matched-Pair Analysis ; Muscle Relaxation ; Polysomnography ; Relaxation

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common disorder characterized by obstructive apneas, hypopneas, and respiratory effort related arousals during sleep. Treatment of OSA is important because untreated patients have potential adverse clinical outcomes, such as excessive daytime sleepiness, metabolic dysfunction, cardiovascular disease, and mortality. Therefore, OSA should be considered as a chronic disease that requires long-term and multidisciplinary care. Positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy is the mainstay of treatment for OSA in adults. Alternative therapies include oral appliance, behavioral modification, and upper airway surgery. The treatment of OSA in adults is reviewed here with focus on PAP therapy.
Adult* ; Apnea ; Arousal ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Chronic Disease ; Complementary Therapies ; Humans ; Mortality ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive*

We present a patient who complained of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), which started three years ago. She had no other medical, neurological, and psychiatric disorders. Nocturnal polysomnography did not indicate any sleep disorders, which might cause daytime EDS, such as obstructive sleep apnea. The following multiple sleep latency test was not compatible for narcolepsy. Her laboratory findings were remarkable for subclinical hypothyroidism, although free T4 and T3 were within reference rage, she had elevated thyroid stimulating hormone. After four weeks of levothyroxine treatment, her EDS resolved. The hypersomnolence, as a presenting symptom of subclinical hypothyroidism, was optimally treated after thyroid hormone replacement.
Disorders of Excessive Somnolence* ; Humans ; Hypothyroidism* ; Narcolepsy ; Polysomnography ; Rage ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive ; Sleep Wake Disorders ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyrotropin ; Thyroxine*

Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is a sleep disorder characterized by loss of muscle atonia during REM sleep associated with dream enactment, which usually start at the age of older than 50. RBD in elders are known to be developing symptoms of neurodegenerative disorders in the course of disease. However, the pathophysiology and prognosis of "early-onset" idiopathic RBD is unclear. Several existing standard value about REM sleep without atonia (RSWA) of RBD patients was established with "late-onset" RBD for those diagnosed at age 50 and greater, RSWA metrics in "early-onset" RBD patients diagnosed prior to age 50 years have not been previously described. Therefore, we report here two patients who were diagnosed as "early-onset" idiopathic RBD, and performed quantitative RSWA scoring. We suggested that "early-onset" idiopathic RBD has different etiologies the various characteristics of RSWA than adults with RBD.
Adult ; Dreams ; Humans ; Neurodegenerative Diseases ; Polysomnography* ; Prognosis ; REM Sleep Behavior Disorder* ; Sleep, REM ; Young Adult*

OBJECTIVES: To compare the sleep quality in the view of polysomnography (PSG) and cardiopulmonary coupling (CPC) analysis in subjects with restless legs syndrome (RLS) versus with psychophysiological insomnia (PPI). METHODS: The PSG data of 109 subjects with RLS and 86 with PPI (apnea-hypopnea index <5 /h) were collected. All subjects reported sleep onset and maintenance insomnia. CPC parameters were obtained using CPC analyzer in RemLogic. Sleep spectrogram by CPC analyses categorized sleep as "stable" [high-frequency coupling (HFC), 0.1-0.4 Hz] and "unstable" [low-frequency coupling (LFC), 0.1-0.01 Hz], independent of sleep stages. We compared PSG and CPC parameters between two groups and performed correlation analyses to find the PSG parameters to affect CPC parameters. RESULTS: In PSG parameters, subjects with PPI showed significantly longer sleep latency (14.2+/-20.06 vs. 27.5+/-34.96, p<0.001), and decreased sleep efficiency (SE, 80.5+/-14.96 vs. 76.5+/-14.45, p=0.009) than RLS. CPC parameters were not significantly different between groups. In both groups HFC was positively correlated with total sleep time and SE and was negatively associated with time of wake after sleep onset in both groups. Meanwhile, very LFC showed the opposite results to HFC with the same PSG parameters. CONCLUSIONS: Although subjects with RLS or PPI present sleep onset and maintenance insomnia, objective sleep quality was worse in PPI than RLS. It suggests that CPC as a factor to differentiate sleep quality between the RLS and the PPI has a limited role.
Polysomnography* ; Restless Legs Syndrome* ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders* ; Sleep Stages

OBJECTIVES: Hyposexuality is defined as diminished sexual drive or libido. There has been little research into the sexuality in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). We investigated the prevalence and relating factors for hyposexuality in OSA men. METHODS: Consecutive 182 male (mean age 48.3 y) were enrolled who were newly diagnosed with OSA through polysomnography. All completed Symptom checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). Subjects were divided into non-hyposexuality (score 0) and hyposexuality (score > or =1) groups according to the question "Loss of sexual interest or pleasure" in SCL-90-R. RESULTS: 110 of 182 subjects (60.4%) answered hyposexuality (score > or =1). Significant correlations were found between hyposexuality and following factors; age (rho=0.248), BDI (rho=0.450), BAI (rho=0.410), ESS (rho=0.221), and percentage of non-REM stage 3 (N3%) (rho=-0.184). Apnea-hypopnea index was significantly correlated with nocturia (rho=0.320), ESS (r=0.230), N1% (r=0.596), N2% (r=-0.540), N3% (r=-0.195), and lowest oxygen saturation (r=-0.641). Comparing two groups, hyposexuality group showed significantly lowered total sleep time (380.2 min vs. 359.1 min), and sleep efficiency (83% vs. 76%). The severity of hyposexuality was correlated with BDI (rho=0.330), BAI (rho=0.253), and N3% (rho=-0.215) in subjects with hyposexuality. After controlling for age, polysomnographic parameters were not correlated with hyposexuality. CONCLUSIONS: About half of untreated OSA male subjects reported diminished libido. Age, daytime sleepiness, mood disorders, and decreased sleep quality were associated with hyposexuality. Of these, aging process was the most important factor for hyposexuality.
Aging ; Anxiety ; Depression ; Humans ; Libido ; Male ; Mood Disorders ; Nocturia ; Oxygen ; Polysomnography ; Prevalence ; Sexuality ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive*