What is the Vernal Equinox?

The Vernal (or Spring) Equinox is the more formal, scientific name for the First Day of Spring.

The equinox is the moment in which the plane of the Earth's midline, the Equator, passes through the center of the Sun.

This creates the only time when the edge of night and day known as the "solar terminator" runs completely perpendicular to the Equator, causing the day and night to be equal in length

In this moment, both the Northern and Southern hemispheres are also equally illuminated.

The only other equinox takes place in fall and is called the Autumnal Equinox. This year's event takes place on September 22.

Tell us your Daylight Saving Time story, and take our poll!

It’s likely everyone has at least one story to share about some mistake or circumstance that resulted from the “spring forward” time change. 

Tell us… what did you do for Daylight Savings Time this morning?

Visit us at our new SleepApnea.org blog to participate!

Don't forget about the time change! Spring forward one hour for Daylight Savings Time!

How to survive the sleep deprivation caused by Daylight Saving Time

The upcoming change to daylight saving time (DST) will make people feel like they’ve lost an hour of sleep.

At 2am this coming Sunday morning, March 12, we are expected to “spring” our clocks one hour “forward.” This synchs our shared schedules to an artificial time reset.

The practice originally evolved to build more sunlight into the work day for the purposes of productivity and safety.

However, sleep deprivation caused by DST has since become the result of that infamous “law of unintended consequences,” with risks to both productivity and safety an ironic negative outcome.

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Read more about what happens when we lose even one hour of sleep, as well as tips for easing into the shift, at our home blog at SleepApnea.org.

You'll sleep better if you're kind to your kidneys

Sleep deprivation and sleep disorders challenge the various systems in the body to maintain the critical functional balance called homeostasis. 

As with the health of many other organs in the body, kidney health can become a casualty of sleep problems.

The SleepHealth App and Study celebrates its first anniversary!

Check out the SleepHealth App, functional on
Apple iPhone and Apple Watch, with Android
functionality coming later in 2017.

The SleepHealth App, a free sleep health analysis tool offered by the American Sleep Apnea Association and Sleeptember®, has just completed its first trip around the sun! 

We’re proud to announce that in one year’s time, it has become one of our most useful tools for both users and sleep health researchers.

Learn the latest about our app by visiting our blog at SleepApnea.org.

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Explore our new family of sites!

Our patient-led sleep apnea support community

The home for our sleep disorders education information and SleepHealth App

Our patient-led sleep health forum and fundraising site for sleep research