Health
Is artificial intelligence the secret to better sleep?
Artificial intelligence has made its way into drug development, surgery and medical advice — and now it’s helping people improve the quality of their sleep.
The Artificial Intelligence in Sleep Medicine Committee, which is part of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, recently published a paper that highlights how AI is contributing to the field of sleep medicine.
The committee looked at how AI is assisting in three areas: clinical applications, lifestyle management and population health.
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Clinical applications involve the use of AI to diagnose and treat sleep disorders, while lifestyle management focuses on the use of consumer technology to track sleep data.
In the third area, population health, AI technology reveals a new approach to public health regarding sleep, according to Dr. Anuja Bandyopadhyay, chair of the Artificial Intelligence in Sleep Medicine Committee at Riley Children’s Hospital, Indiana University School of Medicine.
Artificial intelligence has made its way into drug development, surgery and medical advice — now it’s helping people improve their sleep quality. (iStock)
“Good quality and quantity of sleep is essential for good health,” Bandyopadhyay said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“As sleep medicine doctors, we have been recommending that for years, but sleep is often the first thing to be sacrificed to make time for other competing interests.”
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For years, patients didn’t have access to tools to track their sleep or sleep habits, Bandyopadhyay said — which made it difficult for doctors to get the data they needed to assess the quality and quantity of sleep.
“With the advent of AI, we now have the ability to track sleep, identify patterns and recognize changes in other physiological parameters that can inform the clinician if something isn’t right,” she said.
“At the same time, this technology can help patients track their sleep and understand their sleep habits in a better way, empowering them to make positive changes for their own benefit.”
6 examples of AI in action for better sleep
Bandyopadhyay shared some specific examples of how AI can be used to help improve the quantity and quality of sleep.
No. 1 – Personalized sleep monitoring
“AI-powered devices can monitor sleep patterns more accurately through wearable technology and smart devices,” Bandyopadhyay told Fox News Digital.
“AI-powered devices can monitor sleep patterns more accurately through wearable technology and smart devices,” a sleep expert told Fox News Digital. (iStock)
“They can analyze data such as movement, heart rate and breathing to provide detailed insights into sleep quality.”
No. 2 – Sleep disorder diagnosis
AI algorithms can assist in diagnosing sleep disorders like insomnia, sleep apnea and narcolepsy by analyzing large datasets from sleep studies more efficiently than traditional methods, the expert noted.
No. 3 – Sleep recommendations
“AI can offer personalized sleep recommendations based on individual sleep patterns, lifestyles and health data,” Bandyopadhyay said.
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“This could include advice on sleep hygiene, optimal sleep times and relaxation techniques.”
No. 4 – Predictive analytics
AI can predict potential sleep issues by analyzing patterns and data trends, allowing people to take preventative measures before problems become severe.
“AI can be integrated into smart home systems to create environments conducive to better sleep,” according to the sleep expert. (iStock)
No. 5 – Smart sleep environments
“AI can be integrated into smart home systems to create environments conducive to better sleep,” said Bandyopadhyay.
This might include recommendations for adjusting lighting, temperature and sound based on individual sleep cycles.
No. 6 – Mental health integration
“Given the strong link between sleep and mental health, AI can help by providing holistic health insights and integrating sleep data with mental health assessments to offer comprehensive wellness solutions,” said Bandyopadhyay.
Risks, limitations of using AI for sleep
While advances in AI technology have been shown to help humans optimize everyday tasks and functions, experts urge caution.
“It is still a complex algorithm that requires sufficient training and supervision,” Bandyopadhyay said.
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“It would be naive to assume that AI can be autonomous and replace clinical expertise.”
All sleep disorders are different, the expert noted, with differences in symptoms and responses to various therapies.
“It is not a one-size-fits-all solution,” she said. “Hence, relying only on an AI-enabled algorithm to diagnose complex disorders may not be a good idea.”
Using AI to assist with sleep could help reduce physician burnout and improve access to care, according to experts. (iStock)
It’s also important to have layers of security in place, so that AI can be used in a responsible manner without compromising patient privacy, according to Bandyopadhyay.
“As generative AI gains popularity, we also need to think about ethical concerns and discuss who is responsible for the clinical contents or decisions,” she added.
Future of AI in sleep medicine
Sleep medicine is “well-positioned” to incorporate AI, Bandyopadhyay said, as it involves interpreting body signals and “complex psychosocial processes” that work in tandem with the environment.
“AI forms the perfect triad between clinicians and patients.”
“Untreated sleep disorders can lead to adverse cardiometabolic and neurocognitive outcomes, making the ability to monitor one’s sleep in a meaningful manner and utilize that clinical data to improve sleep a critical need for our field,” she said.
If used correctly, AI can also help to alleviate physician burnout and improve patients’ access to care, she said.
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“In the U.S., the estimated patient-to-physician ratio among sleep medicine doctors is 43,000 to 1,” Bandyopadhyay noted.
“There aren’t enough physicians, and that leads to poor access to care.”
In the U.S., the estimated patient-to-physician ratio among sleep medicine doctors is 43,000 to 1, according to one expert. (iStock)
“If I had a tool that could screen my patients for poor quality or quantity of sleep, summarize that data for me, help me document my conversations with the patient, and alert me if my patient is not using the therapy as prescribed, then I would certainly be able to direct all my time and effort into improving the care I provide to my patients.”
While AI is a powerful tool, Bandyopadhyay said clinicians must make sure to use it for “the right patient and the right cause.”
“AI forms the perfect triad between clinicians and patients, bridging the gap and empowering patients and clinicians to optimize good sleep health.”
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A child in California is presumed to have H5N1 bird flu, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH).
As of Dec. 23, there had been 36 confirmed human cases of bird flu in the state, according to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).
This represents more than half of the human cases in the country.
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The latest pediatric patient, who lives in San Francisco, experienced fever and conjunctivitis (pink eye) as a result of the infection.
The unnamed patient was not hospitalized and has fully recovered, according to the SFDPH.
A child in California is presumed to have H5N1 bird flu, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health. (iStock)
The child tested positive for bird flu at the SFDPH Public Health Laboratory. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will perform additional tests to confirm the result.
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It is not yet known how the child was exposed to the virus and an investigation is ongoing.
“I want to assure everyone in our city that the risk to the general public is low, and there is no current evidence that the virus can be transmitted between people,” said Dr. Grant Colfax, director of health, in the press release.
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“We will continue to investigate this presumptive case, and I am urging all San Franciscans to avoid direct contact with sick or dead birds, especially wild birds and poultry. Also, please avoid unpasteurized dairy products.”
Samuel Scarpino, director of AI and life sciences and professor of health sciences at Northeastern University in Boston, is calling for “decisive action” to protect individuals who may be in contact with infected livestock and also to alert the public about the risks associated with wild birds and infected backyard flocks.
An infectious diseases expert called for “decisive action” to alert the public about the risks associated with wild birds and infected backyard flocks. (iStock)
“While I agree that the risk to the broader public remains low, we continue to see signs of escalating risk associated with this outbreak,” he told Fox News Digital.
Experts have warned that the possibility of mutations in the virus could enable person-to-person transmission.
“While the H5N1 virus is currently thought to only transmit from animals to humans, multiple mutations that can enhance human-to-human transmission have been observed in the severely sick American,” Dr. Jacob Glanville, CEO of Centivax, a San Francisco biotechnology company, told Fox News Digital.
As of Jan. 10, there have been a total of 707 infected cattle in California, per reports from the California Department of Food and Agriculture. (iStock)
“This highlights the requirement for vigilance and preparation in the event that additional mutations create a human-transmissible pandemic strain.”
As of Jan. 10, there have been a total of 707 infected cattle in California, per reports from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA).
For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health
In the last 30 days alone, the virus has been confirmed in 84 dairy farms in the state.
“In the beginning, everyone thought they were going to find this one breakthrough pain drug that would replace opioids,” Gereau said. Increasingly, though, it’s looking like chronic pain, like cancer, could end up having a range of genetic and cellular drivers that vary both by condition and by the particular makeup of the person experiencing it. “What we’re learning is that pain is not just one thing,” Gereau added. “It’s a thousand different things, all called ‘pain.’”
For patients, too, the landscape of chronic pain is wildly varied. Some people endure a miserable year of low-back pain, only to have it vanish for no clear reason. Others aren’t so lucky. A friend of a friend spent five years with extreme pain in his arm and face after roughhousing with his son. He had to stop working, couldn’t drive, couldn’t even ride in a car without a neck brace. His doctors prescribed endless medications: the maximum dose of gabapentin, plus duloxetine and others. At one point, he admitted himself to a psychiatric ward, because his pain was so bad that he’d become suicidal. There, he met other people who also became suicidal after years of living with terrible pain day in and day out.
The thing that makes chronic pain so awful is that it’s chronic: a grinding distress that never ends. For those with extreme pain, that’s easy to understand. But even less severe cases can be miserable. A pain rating of 3 or 4 out of 10 sounds mild, but having it almost all the time is grueling — and limiting. Unlike a broken arm, which gets better, or tendinitis, which hurts mostly in response to overuse, chronic pain makes your whole world shrink. It’s harder to work, and to exercise, and even to do the many smaller things that make life rewarding and rich.
It’s also lonely. When my arms first went crazy, I could barely function. But even after the worst had passed, I saw friends rarely; I still couldn’t drive more than a few minutes, or sit comfortably in a chair, and I felt guilty inviting people over when there wasn’t anything to do. As Christin Veasley, director and co-founder of the Chronic Pain Research Alliance, puts it: “With acute pain, medications, if you take them, they get you over a hump, and you go on your way. What people don’t realize is that when you have chronic pain, even if you’re also taking meds, you rarely feel like you were before. At best, they can reduce your pain, but usually don’t eliminate it.”
A cruel Catch-22 around chronic pain is that it often leads to anxiety and depression, both of which can make pain worse. That’s partly because focusing on a thing can reinforce it, but also because emotional states have physical effects. Both anxiety and depression are known to increase inflammation, which can also worsen pain. As a result, pain management often includes cognitive behavioral therapy, meditation practice or other coping skills. But while those tools are vital, it’s notoriously hard to reprogram our reactions. Our minds and bodies have evolved both to anticipate pain and to remember it, making it hard not to worry. And because chronic pain is so uncomfortable and isolating, it’s also depressing.
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