Sleep Center

Sleep is not just resting or taking a break from busy routines – it is essential to physical, mental, and emotional health. Adequate sleep may also play a role in helping the body recover from illness and injury. Inadequate sleep over a period of time is associated with obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and depression. The emotional and mental benefits of sleep are also significant. Even occasional sleeping problems can make daily life feel more stressful and less productive. Some people with chronic insomnia are more likely to develop psychiatric problems. Studies indicate that those who said they had trouble getting enough sleep reported impaired ability to perform tasks involving:

• Memory
• Learning
• Logical reasoning
• Mathematical calculation
  

Although sleep needs vary from person to person, generally, most healthy adults need no more than 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night. If you have some of the following problems, you may need more sleep, or a better quality of sleep, than you are getting:

• Trouble staying alert during boring or monotonous activities
• Tendency to be unreasonably irritable with co-workers, family, or friends
• Difficulty concentrating or remembering facts

• Snoring
• Gaps or irregularities in breathing during sleep
• Unrefreshed sleep
• Daytime sleepiness and napping
• Restless sleep
• Difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep
• Painful or crawling sensations in legs while sitting quietly or lying in bed
• Jerking of limbs, particularly legs, during sleep
• Vivid, frightening, or violent dreams

• Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA)
• Shift Work Disorder (SWD)
• Sleep-Related Eating Disorders
• Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS)
• Insomnia
• Adolescent sleep disorders
• Narcolepsy
• Daytime Fatigue
• Unusual nocturnal events

Diagnosis begins when a patient, bed partner, or doctor recognizes the signs of a sleep disorder. For some disorders, such as insomnia or restless leg syndrome – history, sometimes supplemented by other testing or the maintenance of sleep diaries – reveals the problem. For other disorders, such as sleep apnea or narcolepsy, the disorder must be confirmed by a sleep study or polysomnogram. For narcolepsy and occasionally other conditions, this study is followed the next day by a similar test performed during brief naps (multiple sleep latency test).

Sleep apnea may be treated by one or a combination of these therapies: surgery, dental appliance, weight loss, and/or a breathing device called nasal CPAP. Narcolepsy and restless leg syndrome are treated with medications. Insomnia is treated primarily by behavioral approaches, including a relearning of sleep habits.

Treatment and Evaluation

If you experience some of these symptoms, it's time to wake up to the problem. Diagnosis and treatment of your sleep disorder are as close as your doctor. Our Sleep Centers offer multiple testing procedures for patients including:

• Overnight sleep studies
• Studies to treat sleep-related breathing disorders and determine settings for devices that assist with sleep-related breathing (CPAP/BiLevel/ASV)
• Daytime studies to evaluate sleepiness and ability to maintain wakefulness
• Portable Home Sleep Testing
• Monitoring sleep/wake behavior, circadian rhythms, and daytime physical activity

Our goal is to utilize these studies to guide our diagnosis and treatment plan to help you put your sleep issues to rest.

Should you think that you may need to be tested further, please discuss your problem with your doctor. He/she can refer you for a consultation or a sleep study. Upon physician's order, sleep specialists at one of our sleep centers will perform your evaluation to see if you have a sleep disorder. Our sleep specialists are recognized experts in evaluating and treating sleep disorders.