Children are seven times more likely to sleepwalk if both their parents have a history of sleepwalking, according to a new study.

More than 60 per cent of children developed sleepwalking when both their parents were sleepwalkers in a study among kids born in the Canadian province of Quebec, researchers said.

The study also found that children with one parent who was a sleepwalker had three times the odds of becoming a sleepwalker compared with children whose parents did not sleepwalk.

Sleepwalking is a common childhood sleep disorder that usually disappears during adolescence. Sleep terrors are another early childhood sleep disorder often characterised by a scream, intense fear and a prolonged period of inconsolability.

The two disorders (also known as parasomnias) share many of the same characteristics and arise mainly from slow-wave sleep, according to the study.

Jacques Montplaisir, of the Hopital du Sacre-Coeur de Montreal, looked at the prevalence of sleepwalking and sleep terrors during childhood; any link between early sleep terrors and sleepwalking later in childhood; and the degree of association between parental history of sleepwalking and the presence of sleepwalking and sleep terrors in children.

Montplaisir and team analysed sleep data from a group of 1,940 children born in Quebec in 1997 and 1998 and studied in 1999 to 2011.

The authors found an overall childhood prevalence of sleep terrors (ages one and a half to 13 years) of 56.2 per cent. There was a high prevalence of sleep terrors (34.4 per cent) at one and a half years of age but that prevalence decreased to 5.3 per cent at age 13.

The overall childhood prevalence of sleepwalking (ages two and a half to 13 years) was 29.1 per cent. Sleepwalking was relatively infrequent during the preschool years but the prevalence increased steadily to 13.4 per cent by age 10 years.

Study results showed that children who had sleep terrors during early childhood were more likely to develop sleepwalking later in childhood at age 5 years or older than children who did not experience sleep terrors in early childhood (34.4 per cent vs 21.7 per cent).

Children's odds of sleepwalking increased based on the sleepwalking history of their parents.

Children with one parent who was a sleepwalker had three times the odds of becoming a sleepwalker compared with children whose parents did not sleepwalk; and children whose parents both had a history of sleepwalking had seven times the odds of becoming a sleepwalker, according to the results.

"These findings point to a strong genetic influence on sleepwalking and, to a lesser degree, sleep terrors. This effect may occur through polymorphisms in the genes involved in slow-wave sleep generation or sleep depth," researchers said.

If you suffer from asthma then you know that controlling the condition is the key to ensuring good quality of life. Now, scientists have come up with a bunch of tips and to help you do just that.

Allergist James Sublett, MD, at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), said that patients were prone to hospitalization because they weren't aware of simple measures that can asthma under control. He added that sufferers are also not aware that uncontrolled asthma is dangerous and far costlier.

ACAAI has put together this list of facts to help you understand how you can not only achieve better outcomes with your asthma, but also start breathing easier.

Asthma sufferers may not realize that getting their symptoms under control can improve their overall health. Controlled asthma means:

No or fewer asthma symptoms even at night or after exercise.

Prevention of all or most asthma attacks.

Participation in all activities, including exercise.

No emergency room visits or hospital stays.

Less need for quick-relief medicines.

Minimize side effects from asthma medications.

Immunotherapy (allergy shots) can reduce sensitivity to the allergens that trigger asthma attacks and significantly reduce the severity of the disease. It might even prevent the development of asthma in some children with seasonal allergies.

Asthma is a complex condition, and exists in a variety of forms, including allergic asthma, exercise-induced asthma and work-related asthma. Each type can have different symptoms and triggers, and each requires a different approach to diagnosis and treatment. Similarly, each patient also has a different set of symptoms and triggers, which sets off an asthma attack.

According to the newly updated ACAAI Asthma Management and the Allergist: Better Outcomes at Lower Cost, asthma care provided by allergists is associated with better patient outcomes across a range of important markers.

A new study has provided a link between drinking behaviors with the overall mortality rate.

A new University of Colorado Boulder study involving some 40,000 people indicates that social and psychological problems caused by drinking generally trump physically hazardous drinking behaviors when it comes to overall mortality rates.

The study showed, for instance, that participants who had experienced an intervention by physicians, family members or friends had a 67 percent greater risk of death over the 18-year study period, said sociology Professor Richard Rogers, lead study author. Those who reported cutting down on social or sports activities because of alcohol use had a 46 percent higher risk of death over the same period.

In contrast, issues like driving after drinking too much or engaging in other physically risky behaviors did not result in a significant uptick in mortality rates.The new study also showed social risks of drinking, from losing jobs to having spouses threaten to leave, were equally or more strongly linked to mortality than physiological consequences of alcohol abuse like withdrawal jitters or becoming physically ill.

One of the most unexpected findings was that of those who identified themselves as light drinkers, consuming less than one drink a day, 48 percent reported having some problem with alcohol in the 12 months prior to the survey.

The research data allowed the CU-Boulder team to investigate the mortality associated with 41 separate drinking problems including drinking more than intended, unsuccessfully trying to cut back, driving a car after drinking too much, losing ties with friends and family, missing work with hangovers, drinking more to get the same effect, depression and arrests.

It was also found that 23 percent started drinking without intending to, 20 percent drank longer than expected and 25 percent experienced a strong urge to drink. For those who experienced a strong urge to drink over the past year, 19 percent were light drinkers, 40 percent were moderate drinkers and 57 percent were heavy drinkers.

Current drinkers who found it difficult to stop once they started had a 15 percent higher risk of death over the follow-up period; those who acknowledged going on a drinking bender during the past 12 months had a 54 percent higher mortality rate; and those who blacked out during the previous 12 months prior to the assessment had a 22 percent higher mortality rate over the 18-year study period.

The new study also showed those who reported attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in the past year had a 45 percent higher risk of mortality.

But those results likely are somewhat misleading in that some of those people could have recently have been diagnosed as alcoholics or were more likely to have severe health, social or legal problems, including required AA attendance. In addition, those who reported attending AA might have had increased risk of mortality due to smoking or may have had other substance abuse problems.

The study is published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.