OUT of bed and onto the treadmill is the combined message for stroke survivors, according to the results of two new studies from the US.

The first study, published in the journal Sleep, indicated that older rehabilitation patients who had a daytime nap showed less functional improvement compared to rehabilitation patients who did not have a siesta. The results also showed that the functional deficit was still evident at the study's three-month follow-up.

While surprised by the results, the team headed by Dr Cathy Alessi of the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System and the University of California's David Geffen School of Medicine concluded that sleeping during the day may decrease the patient's motivation and effort during therapy.

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Changing the clocks twice a year for Daylight Saving Time throws off the body's sleep rhythms for 20 percent of the year, with potentially serious immune consequences, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany.

Researchers studied the sleep patterns of 65,000 people living in Europe, noting at what time the body entered the "mid-point" of sleep, defined as halfway between falling asleep and waking up on a day off.

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Biological clocks of humans, animals and even plants are intricately linked with day and night. But when they fall out of sync, they have potentially damaging consequences.

Swinburne University of Technology researcher Greg Murray, who has keenly studied the body clock or the circadian system, found its rhythms can impact human mood.

His research has linked the body clock and certain psychological responses, including the capacity to trigger relapses in patients with bipolar disorder.

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. - If there's one thing that everyone knows about newborn babies, it's that they don't sleep through the night, and neither do their parents. But in fact, those first six months of life are crucial to developing the regular sleeping and waking patterns, known as circadian rhythms, that a child will need for a healthy future.

Life are crucial to developing the regular sleeping and waking patterns, known as circadian rhythms, that a child will need for a healthy future.

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So there you lay, awake, after only three or four hours of sleep. You worry, you toss and turn, finally you go back to sleep, but you know something is wrong with you. Is it?

Although some people are never really bothered by irregular sleep patterns, others worry that, if they wake up during the night, they will not get enough sleep and will not be able to function well the next day. Some blame the barking dog, others blame a partner's snoring as the reason for their wakefulness.

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If you're a teen-ager dreading the thought of that early wake up call on the first day of school, there is something you can do about it: Practice.

Sleep experts say it's tough for teens to get enough sleep because their natural body clocks are rarely in sync with the school bell. That's why the National Sleep Foundation urges teens to start resetting their internal clocks before the start of the new school year. For some people, the process takes only a few days. But for others, it can be several weeks before the internal clock comes to terms with the crack of dawn.

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