TL;DR: A 2026 medRxiv preprint reported that peripheral blood RNA sequencing separated Parkinson disease from healthy controls and isolated REM sleep behavior disorder more clearly than it separated isolated REM sleep behavior disorder from controls. Key Findings 71 baseline samples: The main analysis included 20 healthy controls, 31 people with isolated REM sleep behavior disorder, …
TL;DR: A 2026 feasibility study in the Journal of Activity, Sedentary and Sleep Behaviors found that pregnant participants could use a research-grade accelerometer plus text-message sleep diaries across much of pregnancy, although third-trimester wear declined. Key Findings 10 pregnant participants: The pilot recruited Kaiser Permanente Northern California members at 10 weeks’ gestation and followed them …
TL;DR: A 2026 randomized pilot study in JMIR Formative Research found that one brief yoga session did not significantly change salivary cortisol compared with quiet sitting, but it did raise heart rate during the active movement phase. Key Findings Yoga pilot sample: The pilot randomized 19 adults, with 10 participants assigned to a 24-minute yoga …
TL;DR: A 2026 randomized trial in Nature and Science of Sleep found that Sancai acupoint acupuncture reduced primary-insomnia severity more than sham acupuncture, with parallel improvements in sleep testing and peripheral 5-HT and BDNF biomarkers. Key Findings 76-person insomnia trial: Researchers randomized 38 patients to real Sancai acupuncture and 38 to sham acupuncture. 20 treatment …
TL;DR: A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis in Journal of Sleep Research found that agomelatine modestly improved subjective sleep quality versus placebo, but objective total sleep time did not significantly increase and somnolence reports were more frequent. Key Findings 25 RCTs: The review included 25 double-blind randomized controlled trials with 6,812 randomized participants. Subjective sleep …
TL;DR: A 2026 pilot trial in PLOS One found that a 7-day chicory-and-green-tea herbal supplement did not improve sleep, quality of life, or objective sleep architecture more than placebo in adults with insomnia. Key Findings Small crossover pilot: The crossover pilot enrolled 10 adults aged 50 years or older with insomnia; 9 were women and …
TL;DR: A 2026 iScience study used simultaneous EEG-fMRI from 24 healthy adults to build reference maps for slow-wave events (SWEs), brief sleep-related brain waves, and proposed SloCAD as a way to measure how an individual brain deviates from healthy slow-wave network patterns. Key Findings Two healthy cohorts were mapped: Researchers analyzed simultaneous EEG-fMRI sleep recordings …
TL;DR: A 2026 mouse study in Neuropsychopharmacology found that brain iron deficiency made an opioid-responsive striatal pathway unusually sensitive to D1 dopamine receptor stimulation, pointing to a possible circuit mechanism for restless legs syndrome and opioid-withdrawal restlessness. Key Findings Iron-deficient mouse model: Researchers used a low-iron diet to create brain iron deficiency (BID), a rodent …
TL;DR: A 2026 study in Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that 36 of 42 Hodgkin lymphoma survivors tested after mantle radiation therapy had obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), despite mostly normal BMIs and slender necks — an under-recognized phenotype linked to dropped head syndrome. Key Findings 182 long-term HL survivors: All had received mantle radiation …
TL;DR: A 2026 study in Consciousness and Cognition found that waking mind wandering and nighttime dreaming had nearly the same density of bizarre elements, even though dreams were more likely to be rated as bizarre whole reports. Key Findings 379 experience reports: Researchers analyzed daily audio descriptions of one dream and one waking mind-wandering episode …
