In the News

BEDTIME: A BOON FOR THE AGING BRAIN?

September 13, 2018 by sa4fa@virginia.edu

Could teaching individuals with mild cognitive decline how to sleep better actually stave off their descent into dementia?

That’s Meghan Mattos’ focus. And with support from a $300,000 Translational Health Research Institute grant, Mattos – an assistant professor of nursing at the University of Virginia who’s studied rural-dwelling adults with mild cognitive impairment – will determine the feasibility of an online sleep education program developed by UVA psychology professor Lee Ritterband in older adults with this early form of dementia.

The hypothesis, Mattos explained, is not only that the six-week program may offer non-pharmacological insomnia relief to patients with mild cognitive impairment, but that purposefully improving their sleep patterns through an accessible online program may slow their otherwise likely decline towards dementia.

“We don’t know if bad sleep is causing dementia, or dementia is causing bad sleep,” Mattos said, “but we do know that there’s a relationship between them, and we hope to find out what is causing what” – and what difference a program like Ritterband’s SHUTi OASIS (Sleep Healthy Using the Internet for Older Adult Sufferers of Insomnia and Sleeplessness) might make.

Filed Under: In the News

What Lies Ahead for the Treatment of Insomnia (Theravive)

August 6, 2018 by geb9fb@virginia.edu

Although CBTi is a promising long-term solution because patients can practice the skills on their own, there is a limit to the number of professionals that are certified to deliver CBT specifically for insomnia. Startups addressing mental health have the potential to help people who struggle with insomnia and seek an alternative to a drug only treatment. For example, SHUTi describes itself as “an industry-leading online CBTi program with unsurpassed, proven results”.

Research on SHUTi was done at the University of Virginia and published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. In this study, half the participants received general education on insomnia and the other half were provided online therapy with SHUTi. The researchers found that those who received the internet therapy improved compared to those who did not.

Filed Under: In the News

THRIV Welcomes Second Class of Scholars (University of Virginia School of Medicine)

July 17, 2018 by geb9fb@virginia.edu

The Translational Health Research Institute of Virginia(THRIV) began in January 2017 to promote excellence in clinical and translational research across UVA. One of its first major milestones was to create a mentored career-development program to support training for junior faculty. The THRIV Scholars Program provides innovative training for highly motivated, talented junior faculty representing the next generation of clinical and translational researchers across Grounds at UVA. Scholars are prepared to excel in a clinical translational research environment in which digital data drives healthcare hypotheses, interventions, and health quality evaluation.

Filed Under: In the News

An End to Insomnia…and All You Need Is Wi-Fi (BottomLineInc)

July 2, 2018 by geb9fb@virginia.edu

With so much self-help available online for free, it can be hard to know when paying for a program makes sense. But the effectiveness of Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, or Internet-based CBTI, backed by more than a decade of research, makes it valuable for many people who struggle to get needed sleep. In fact, these programs can be downright economical compared to office visits with a therapist—should you be fortunate enough to even have a therapist nearby who practices CBTI. Researchers in the field began to develop Internet-based programs starting in the early 2000s precisely because there aren’t enough therapists trained in CBTI to care for the millions of people with insomnia who could benefit from it.

Filed Under: In the News

Sleep Solutions Series Part 2 (ABC News)

July 2, 2018 by geb9fb@virginia.edu

GADGETS TO IMPROVE YOUR SLEEP: Diane Macedo shows off some products that have helped her get the best sleep of her life! It’s the second installment of our three part Sleep Solutions Series.

SHUT-I (online sleep therapy program)
Code: ABC-JULY2018
Discount: 10% off
http://www.myshuti.com/

SEE VIDEO HERE…

Filed Under: In the News

App Developed at UVA Improving HIV Care, Study Finds (NBC29)

June 19, 2018 by geb9fb@virginia.edu

Researchers at the University of Virginia Health System say an app designed to help those with HIV manage their illness is leading to healthier patients.

PositiveLinks debuted in 2013 to provide HIV patients with an effective way to self-monitor their illness.

The app allows users to access clinical services and a digital support network.

Dr. Rebecca Dillingham helped develop the app, and she says it encourages patients to live healthier lives.

“Not only is it helping people achieve their health goals, but it’s also helping to decrease stigma and increase the feeling of social support for people who are living with a disease that unfortunately is still unfairly stigmatized,” says Dillingham.

More than 200 UVA patients are enrolled in the app and researchers plan to expand outside of the area.

Filed Under: In the News

UVA School of Medicine 2017 Endowed Chair Electees

January 2, 2018 by sa4fa@virginia.edu

At UVA School of Medicine, endowed professorships are reserved for the most distinguished of our faculty. Please join us in congratulating the below faculty for their election in 2017 to an endowed chair!

Stewart F. Babbott, MD, Ward K. Ensminger Professor of Medicine, Geriatric Medicine, and Palliative Care, Department of Medicine

Karen K. Ballen, MD, Cancer Center Distinguished Professor, Department of Medicine

Ananda Basu, MD, Harrison Distinguished Teaching Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine

Amy H. Bouton, PhD, Harrison Distinguished Teaching Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology,

Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology

Raymond A. Costabile, MD, Hovey S. Dabney Eminent Scholar Professor of Urology (former occupant of the Jay Y. Gilllenwater Professorship in Urology), Department of Urology

Camilo E. Fadul, MD, Jean and Ronald Butcher, MD, Eminent Scholar Professor of Neurology, Department of Neurology

John D. Ferguson, MD, Julian Ruffin Beckwith Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine

Tracey L. Krupski, MD, Jay Y. Gillenwater Associate Professor of Urology, Department of Urology

Coleen A. McNamara, MD, Frances Myers Ball Professor of Medicine (former occupant of the Edward W. and Betty Knight Scripps Professorship in Medicine), Department of Medicine

Susan M. Pollart, MD, Walter M. Seward Professor of Family Medicine (former occupant of the Ruth E. Murdaugh Professorship in Family Practice), Department of Family Medicine

Lee M. Ritterband, PhD, Jean and Ronald Butcher, MD, Eminent Scholar Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences

Filed Under: In the News

BU researcher studying ways to reduce health disparities for black women dealing with insomnia (EurekAlert!)

December 4, 2017 by sa4fa@virginia.edu

(Boston) — Black women are among those most likely to have insomnia, according to Lynn Rosenberg, ScD, associate director of Boston University’s Slone Epidemiology Center and a principal investigator of the Black Women’s Health Study (BWHS). Rosenberg has been awarded a three year $2,225,495 grant from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to study this. The study will be using a self-administered internet program called SHUTi (Sleep Healthy Using the Internet), a web-tool based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).

CBT is the most effective treatment for insomnia because it treats the underlying causes of the disorder, unlike medications that only treat the symptoms. Unfortunately, there are few healthcare providers in the United States that are trained to provide CBT. There also are other barriers for black women, such as not having adequate access to health care.

Filed Under: In the News

This Is the Single Best Cure for Insomnia That No One Is Talking About (Vogue)

September 20, 2017 by sa4fa@virginia.edu

In the frenzied, never-ending search for more sleep, you can’t say people aren’t getting creative. There are beanie-like sleep caps that claim to bring down brain activity, magnetized pillows to align the biological clock, and body creams that “rub out” insomnia, such as the pale purple Sleepy Lotion by Lush, which boasts a cult-like following among the restless. Even podcasts like Sleep With Me or Sleep Whispers have been specially designed to bore, and in turn, help clock in more nighttime hours. And let’s not forget about creative pill cocktail-ing: “It’s not uncommon for people to tell me they’re taking an Ambien, two Tylenol PM, and a glass of wine and still only get 3 and a half hours of sleep at night,” says Michael Breus, Ph.D., a fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Desperate? That might be an understatement. But there’s exciting news for the bleary-eyed: A non-addictive, healthy bedtime fix already exists. And it’s really effective.

The official title—Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I)—carries the appeal of raw broccoli to an 8-year-old stuck at dinner, but it’s been shown to help 70 to 80 percent of people with the disorder, which is diagnosed after enduring broken, irregular, or inadequate sleeping habits at least three times a week. (After three months, it’s labeled chronic insomnia—a struggle for a staggering 10 percent of the population.) And for those with milder or new sleep problems who can’t seem to benefit from white noise, a chilled room, or fewer later-in-the-day caffeine fixes, CBT-I works beautifully, says Michael Grandner, Ph.D., director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona.

Filed Under: In the News

How Tech is Changing the Way We Deal With Insomnia (Paste Magazine)

March 6, 2017 by sa4fa@virginia.edu

How you’d sleep last night? There’s a hefty chance it was not so good. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one-third of the American public is suffering from insomnia. Whether this number sounds like a lot or a total understatement probably depends on whether you’re the one tossing and turning at night. Insomnia can make everyday life hard—that is, difficult to function during the day at work and scary to get behind the wheel of a car. In addition to fatigue, too little sleep impacts mental and physical health in a variety of less immediate ways, making us more likely to be depressed, sick and overweight.

For years, doctors have been telling sleep-deprived patients to practice to good sleep hygiene, for example, cutting back on coffee, nicotine, alcohol, naps and bouts of vigorous exercise right before bedtime; and creating a cool, quiet, dark and comfortable sleep environment in the bedroom. If those commonsense recommendations don’t do the trick, there are high-tech tools that offer some relief—for a price.

Filed Under: In the News