Current News and Events
Australasian Chronobiology Society: Annual Scientific Meeting (September 2011)
In september 2011, six Centre for Sleep Research students (3 Phd, 3 Honours) attended the Australasian Chronobiology Society Conference in Melbourne. the students made 7 presentations, as well as enthusiastically helping with the setup, session chairing and scientific mingling. At the conference dinner, the CfSR students won a number of presentation and travel awards. Well done to Stas, Chris and Georgina – congratulations Emmelin Teng (Best Honours student presentation) and Amy Reynolds (Best PhD student presentation).
The Centre for Sleep Research also sponsored the conference, as it has done previously.
Visit the Australasian Chronobiology Society website at:
http://www.australasianchronobiology.org
NEWS ARCHIVE (SELECTED ITEMS)
11th May 2007: Prescription for Patient Safety
Mistakes happen everywhere, but when they happen in healthcare they can be
deadly. That’s why a prescription for improved patient safety is now on the
national agenda.
“This is a major issue right now with the aging population, increased
demands on the healthcare system and a chronic shortage of doctors,”
explains Dr. Matthew Thomas, Director of UniSA’s Human Factors and Safety
Management program.
“Improving safety and not putting the public at risk is about having the
right systems in place to reduce errors and uncover hidden threats before
it’s too late.”
Some statistics suggest up to 10% of people admitted to hospital are
subjected to a preventable adverse event – the majority of which can be
attributed to human error. And while many studies are still in the early
stages, experts agree changes need to be made now to protect the public.
To
this end, the Human Factors and Safety Management group hosted an
international Patient Safety Seminar on May 24th
2007.
“By bringing key stakeholders, health care workers and error management
experts together we can focus on the clinical standards, work practices and
protocols that need to be developed and adapted to reduce, better detect and
better manage errors and enhance patient safety outcomes,” says Dr. Thomas.
“At the end of the day, one person dying because of a preventable adverse
event in healthcare is one too many.”
The Human Factors and Safety Management group at UniSA is host to one of
Australia’s leading postgraduate education and industry-based research
programs. It works collaboratively with a wide range of high-risk industries
including healthcare, aviation and rail.
17th January 2007: Elite athletes tested between the sheets
The road isn’t the only place elite cyclists competing in the Tour Down Under are worried about performance. For two teams taking part this year, how well they sleep at the end of each race day is also being tested.
“These are some of the best athletes in Australia and the chance to study them while they’re at the height of competition is an amazing opportunity,” says Dr. Greg Roach of UniSA’s Centre for Sleep Research.
“While we know sleep has a huge impact on pretty much everything we do, very little research has been done on how it affects elite athletes and this will be one of the first studies to look at top athletes in competition.”
A collaborative venture with the Australian Institute of Sport, the study is part of a new project looking at the sleep and performance of elite athletes in the lead-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“Sleep is one of the most important things for an athlete’s recovery and it certainly impacts on performance,” explains Dr. Shona Halson, a senior physiologist and Director of the new Recovery Centre at the Australian Institute of Sport. “The more we know, the more we can try and maximise the performance of our athletes in competition.”
Tour Down Under teams UniSA and SA.com/AIS are taking part in the study along with last year’s race winner, Simon Gerrans, and world-renown cycling commentator Phil Liggett. The cyclists and a control group (made up of Liggett and those traveling with the teams) will be wearing special wrist watches called activity monitors. The activity monitors will help determine how much sleep the cyclists are getting compared to the control group.
“What you’re doing affects your sleep and how you sleep affects what you do,” explains Dr. Roach. “This will help us understand what happens to sleep during elite competition.”
“It will be interesting to see what transpires as the cyclists get more fatigued,” adds. Dr. Halson. “Will they get more sleep or less sleep? The answer could be huge for Australian sport.”
11th June 2006: DJ tries to break world record
A Melbourne-based DJ will try to spin tunes for five days straight starting
Monday in an attempt to break a Guinness World Record. Matt Solo, also known
as DJ Promo, will forgo sleep to try and achieve 100 hours of continuous mixing.
'It's not going to be easy', DJ Promo admits. 'But once I hit the decks, I wake
up big time and I think the adrenaline will keep me going.'
The internationally renowned DJ has asked experts at UniSA's Centre for Sleep
Research to monitor his world record attempt to see how the sleep deprivation
affects his performance.
'The research shows that just one night without sleep impairs a person's performance
as much as someone with a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit', UniSA
fatigue expert Jill Dorrian explains. 'Matt will be awake four times longer
than that and is likely to experience extreme levels of sleepiness, reduced
ability to concentrate, fluctuations in mood, performance impairment and possibly
even hallucinations.'
DDJ Promo will wear a special wrist monitor called an actiwatch before, during
and after his record attempt to gather scientific data. He'll also take several
fatigue tests during his mammoth DJ session and be hooked up to high-tech sleep
monitoring equipment when he finally goes to bed. Supplied by Compumedics Ltd.,
the system will measure DJ Promo's brain waves to determine the length and quality
of his sleep cycles.
'This is a really unique opportunity, not only because it involves continuous
wakefulness, but also because it involves continuous performance', Dr. Dorrian
says. 'We're very interested in watching Matt continue to DJ as he becomes progressively
more tired. We're also very interested in the recovery process he'll go through
following his 100-hours awake.'
The current world record for longest club DJ session is 84 hours. To set a new
record, DJ Promo needs to play a continuous live mix of vinyl or CDs with no
premixing allowed. The Guinness World Record rules also stipulate that no piece
of music can be repeated within four hours, but DJ Promo's determined not to
play anything twice.
The world record attempt, which hopes to raise $500,000 for charity, will kick
off at 9am Monday in Melbourne's Federation Square and end Friday at 2pm. It's
estimated Matt will spin 1,500 different tracks in his record attempt.
12th May 2006: Sleep shortage to blame for obesity epidemic?
Junk food and a lack of exercise are blamed for the growing obesity epidemic among Australian kids, but a shortage of sleep could also be a factor. A new study at UniSA's Centre for Sleep Research is looking at whether children and teenagers who don't get enough sleep face an increased risk of obesity.
'A staggering one in four kids in Australia is now obese and while sleep might not seem a likely culprit, there's growing scientific evidence that the less you sleep, the more likely you are to be obese', says lead researcher Dr. Sarah Blunden. This is first study of its kind in Australia to look at the link between sleep and obesity and one of the first in the world to focus on kids.
'We know that adults who get less than six hours sleep or more than 10 hours sleep are more likely to be fat', explains Dr. Blunden. 'But no one knows where the threshold is for kids, who obviously need more sleep than adults. Preliminary evidence from a small sampling of primary school students in Darwin found that 100 per cent of children who slept for less than six hours per night were either overweight or obese. While well under the recommend nine to 10 hours sleep for children in this age group, researchers are now trying to determine if less than 7 or 8 hours sleep in children may have a similar effect.
'When we don't get enough sleep, we believe it might confuse our appetite hormones', Dr. Blunden explains. 'The body's natural appetite suppressant would then become an appetite stimulant and people would gain weight. So far, it appears sleep is a factor in kids and if it is, it's certainly a controllable one.'