Iowans will lose an hour of sleep this weekend as clocks spring forward, but for many it’ll be just be another day in their regular struggle to get enough rest. Among the most common factors for losing sleep are pain, stress and poor health. It’s estimated that more than a third of adults don’t always get the amount of sleep they need to feel their best. Dr. Stephen Grant with Iowa Sleep says that’s even more true for those who have chronic or acute pain. “The suffering associated with pain can produce anxiety and the suffering and anxiety when combined can really preclude someone’s ability to fall asleep, as well as if they are awoken by pain, return to sleep.”

According to a new poll out today (Monday) from the National Sleep Foundation, pain, stress and poor health all correlate to shorter sleep durations and worse sleep quality for millions of Americans. Overall, there are about 80 different types of sleep disorders. Grant says among the most common are insomnia, restless legs syndrome, narcolepsy and apnea. Apnea occurs when a person’s airways narrow or collapse during sleep.

Dr. Grant says “Most of the people that I see with obstructive sleep apnea have respiratory events that we call hypopneas. And that’s people that just kind of snore and have enough resistance in their airway when they sleep, they just don’t ventilate appropriately. They don’t get the oxygen in or the carbon dioxide out.”

This is Sleep Awareness Week and the need of many to get more “Z’s” will be apparent on Sunday, when Daylight Saving Time begins in the U-S and an hour is lost as clocks spring forward.

(Iowa News Service)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A new report suggests economic growth is ahead for nine Midwestern and Plains states. The survey report issued Monday says the overall Mid-America Business Conditions Index climbed to 57.0 in February from 54.8 in January.  Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says the regional growth is likely although areas “linked closely to the energy sector, including ethanol, are experiencing pullbacks in economic activity.”

The survey results from supply managers are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests economic growth, while a score below that suggests decline. The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — Iowa racing officials are reviewing a recommended plan to distribute $72 million settlement related to the end of greyhound racing in Council Bluffs. The Dubuque Telegraph Herald reports the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission plans to review the report Thursday. Half of the money would support the Iowa Greyhound Association’s operation of the Dubuque track, which plans to run races from April 29th to October 25th on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Most of the rest of the money would go to Iowa breeders based on their past performance.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A new facility offering psychiatric care and substance abuse treatment to children and teens in northwest Iowa is expected to address an important need in the region when it opens this spring. The Sioux City Journal reports the new Jackson Recovery Centers Child and Adolescent Recovery Hospital opens in May.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police are investigating after finding a woman’s body in an alley in Des Moines. Sergeant Jason Halifax says the body was reported shortly before 8:45 a.m. yesterday in an alley near 14th Street and 14th Place. Halifax said the woman was 35-years-old. Her name wasn’t immediately released Sunday.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man has been sentenced to 7 years in prison for fatally stabbing another man during an argument last March. The Quad-City Times reports Judge John Telleen says the argument between Tremaine Gabirel and Christian Wood outside a Davenport nightclub was about “stupid stuff.”