Recent evidence suggests that smoking during the night is an indicator of nicotine dependence and predicts smoking cessation failure. Night smokers are likely to experience disturbance to their sleep cycle when they wake to smoke, but we are not aware of the prevalence of night smokers' self-reported sleep disturbance. Because sleep disturbance also predicts smoking cessation failure, we examined how the pre-cessation risk factors of night smoking and sleep disturbance, and their co-occurrence, predict smoking cessation failure in a 6-week double-blind randomized controlled trial examining whether naltrexone augments the efficacy of the nicotine patch (O'Malley et al., 2006). Smokers (N = 385) completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (Buysse, Reynolds, Monk, Berman, & Kupfer, 1989) and a single item of waking at night to smoke pre-cessation. Smoking status was determined at weeks 1, 6, 24 and 48 weeks after quitting. The 2 main findings were: (1) night smokers reported significantly greater sleep disturbance than non-night smokers; and (2) smokers with co-occurring night smoking and sleep disturbance experienced significantly greater risk for smoking than smokers with neither risk factor. Results suggest that individuals who both wake during the night to smoke and report clinically-significant sleep disturbance represent a high-risk group of smokers. Future smoking cessation treatment might incorporate strategies related to managing these smokers' sleep habits and physiological dependence on nicotine in order to bolster their cessation outcomes.
The sleep patterns of 41 full-term newborn infants were recorded continuously during the first 2 postnatal days. The recordings were made nonintrusively using the Motility Monitoring System while the infants were in the hospital. When the subjects were 8 months old, their mothers filled out the Infant Temperament Questionnaire, which yields scores on nine dimensions of temperament. There were four significant correlations between Day 1 sleep measures and later temperament dimensions; there were eight correlations on Day 2, hardly more than a chance number. The temperament scores were used to classify infants as having Easy, Intermediate, Difficult, or Most Difficult temperament. Profiles of sleep measures for the infants in the four groups differed significantly on Day 1, and the Most Difficult infants showed the most extreme values on all measures. Differences in the predictive findings from Day 1 and Day 2 were attributed to the greater influence of the stress of labor and delivery on the first postnatal day.
Temperament of 55 children was assessed annually using separate instruments for the years 4-7 and 8-11. Mothers made differential ratings of siblings, and the two questionnaires showed continuity and stability. There were consistently significant correlations with respect to individual differences over the full range of ages, and no evidence of variation across age or developmental change.
The Breathing Bear, an optional source of rhythmic stimulation for infants, was investigated for its effects on full-term infants and their mothers. The Bear "breathes" like a normal infant at a rate matching the infant's. Previous studies have indicated that premature infants prefer a Breathing Bear over a Non-Breathing Bear, and they show neurobehavioral benefits from the exposure. A Breathing Bear was provided for 35 full-term infants, and a Non-Breathing Bear was provided for 37 infants from 5 weeks to 6 months postnatal age, all of whom were considered by their mothers to be fussy. Mothers' reports of infant crying, ratings of their infants' temperament, and their own stress and depression were assessed during and after the intervention period. Reported crying did not differentiate the groups. After 6 months, the mothers in the Breathing Bear group rated their infant's temperament less negatively and themselves less depressed and stressed than the mothers in the Non-Breathing Bear group. Thus, the Breathing Bear had measurable effects on the mothers and a possible impact on the mother-infant relationship.
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