My goal for this blog is to explain some of the biggest problems and issues concerning sleep, and offer advice to help readers get better rest.  I will also keep readers up to date on the latest research and the newest treatments.

Although I will cover a variety of subjects, insomnia will be a topic I discuss frequently, as it is a difficult condition to manage and there are so many useful tips that I can’t discuss them all in one blog.

My first post focused on the importance of understanding how light affects the brain and helps control the sleep/wake cycle.

Many people don’t understand the importance of limiting their exposure to light before bedtime.  Light is the strongest cue that will alert you; unfortunately, when people can’t sleep they tend to watch TV, use a computer or read a book, all of these activities can stimulate your brain and keep you awake.

Many people experience occasional sleepless nights. Insomnia symptoms (difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep or waking up too early) can be caused by stress, illness or anxiety. Symptoms of insomnia can often be eliminated naturally. Simple lifestyle changes such as going to bed and waking up at the same time each night, keeping your bedroom cool and dark and abstaining from drinking alcohol before bed may help you obtain better sleep.

If your troubles persist for longer than a month, however, it is best to consult a sleep physician to determine the best type of treatment.  Many people wait for for years before seeking professional help and, by that time, they will often have developed bad habits that exacerbate the insomnia problem.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/all-nighters/

http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/excessive-sleepiness-10/sleep-supplements-herbs?page=2

 http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/excessive-sleepiness-10/myths-facts?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Today’s Tuesday Tip is to find a comprehensive sleep center that handles their own CPAP machines and masks because that way you have medical professionals working together to treat your sleep apnea and help solve the problems that you are having with the CPAP therapy.  Employees of medical supply companies who, by the way,  are usually not health professionals, simply cannot deliver the same quality of care.  Such a sleep center should do what we do at Northshore Sleep Medicine:  we let you take home and try many different masks without repeatedly billing you or your insurance company.  We guide you toward the best masks and then let you take home as many as you need until you find the perfect fit and comfort for your face and your sleeping patterns.

And remember CPAP is the gold standard therapy for obstructive sleep apnea and the only proven first-line therapy for severe sleep apnea.  It is in your own best interest to make a good effort to use the CPAP if that is what your doctor prescribes.  So don’t be fooled by the advertisements from dentists who encourage you to “hate CPAP” and to give up on it and switch to their expensive oral appliances that often do not adequately treat the sleep apnea.  There is an appropriate use for the oral appliances, but only a physician should be making that recommendation, not a dentist.

Sleep apnea is a serious medical disorder that,  if left untreated,  increases your risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity and dementia.  It goes without saying that the treatment is best guided by a sleep physician.  If you snore, have excessive daytime sleepiness or for some other reason suspect that you have sleep apnea, do not start by going to a dentist who advertises that he treats snoring.  Start by going to a reputable sleep doctor, preferabably at a comprehensive sleep center, who will then refer you to a trustworthy, experienced dentist if the oral appliance ( AKA:  mandibular advancing device)  is an appropriate therapy for you.

Most Rabbis agree that it is alright to use medical equipment such as CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) that your doctor has determined is medically necessary for treatment of your obstructive sleep apnea.  By using your CPAP every night, you are lowering your risk of developing hypertension (high blood pressure), heart disease, cardiac arrhythmias, stroke, obesity, diabetes and dementia.

Many CPAP machines now turn on automatically when you put on the mask and turn off when you take it off so there are no on/off switches to use.  One example is manufactured by Res Med.  Ask your sleep doctor about prescribing this type of CPAP machine if that makes you feel better.

Also, another way to be observant is to use a timer such as the type people use to  turn lamps on and off- when they are away from home.  Rabbi Kreisman of Skokie, Illinois recommends this to members of his temple.

One of our staff sleep physicians at Northshore Sleep Medicine, Dr Irina Trosman, is Jewish and she feels strongly that her Jewish patients should feel comfortable using their CPAPs on the sabbath and high holidays and that they should not feel that they have gone against their traditional religious beliefs.

Mazel tov!

Studies have shown that 80% of patients with atrial fibrillation have obstructive sleep apnea and a growing body of observational studies show that treating the sleep apnea with either CPAP or the oral appliance can keep the a.fib (atrial fibrillation) under control.  Many electro-physiologists (the cardiologists who do cardio-ablations) will not do the ablation until a patient has a sleep study to investigate the presence of sleep apnea.

Conditions that disrupt the sleep such as sleep apnea or insomnia can lead to arousals (many of which are not remembered) and this in turn leads to over-stimulation which increases the firing of the sympathetic nervous system (i.e. a rush of adrenalin).  This is all a fancy way to say:  when you don’t have good sleep, your heart is not resting as it should.  You can have an increase in your blood pressure and an increase in your heart rate that over many years can increase your risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, congestive heart failure, stroke and cardiac arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia (as well as many other conditions such as diabetes, obesity, dementia and impotence).

If you treat sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, it can dramatically benefit your heart. For example, I saw a patient this week, Richard,  who had an initial, diagnostic sleep study that found significant sleep apnea and showed that his maximum heart rate while asleep was 122 bpm (beats per minute) with a mean pulse rate of 80.  This was much higher than expected for this extremely fit, 69 year old man who has a resting heart rate in the daytime of 65 bpm.   When he returned to the sleep lab and was started on CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) to treat his sleep apnea, then his maximum heart rate dropped to 67 bpm and his mean was 52 bpm!   He had a nearly 50% reduction in his heart rate because we were able to eliminate the pauses in his breathing and all the stress on the body that apnea induces.   Plus keep in mind that this was his first night on CPAP and it was in a sleep lab with wires attached to him.  It will surely be even better when he is sleeping in his own bed and he becomes more accustomed to CPAP.

Sleep disorders are still one of the most overlooked causes of cardio-vascular disease.  Yet, there are more and more sleep centers and sleep physicians who can work with your internist and cardiologist to help find the optimal treatment plan.  To find the best sleep center near you, go the American Academy of Sleep Medicine’s website (aasmnet.org).   They list all accredited sleep centers in the US.  Be sure to ask if they are a comprehensive sleep center that has a board-certified sleep specialist and which treats all sleep disorders because your problem may involve more than one sleep disorder.

Sleep center interest surges both on and off campus, Health Facilities Management

They are making recommendations that all pilots be screened for sleep disorders, especially for sleep apnea, which can make people profoundly sleep deprived and make it very difficult for them to stay awake during any sedentary activity. The repeated collapse of the throat while sleeping leads to repeated micro-arousals because the brain senses the falling oxygen levels and rising CO2 and knows that something is wrong. During the brief awakenings  (so brief that a person doesn’t usually remember), the person gasps for air and then falls back into sleep only to start the whole disruptive process all over again.

There are now several airplane crashes that are thought to have occured because of pilot fatigue and the associated poor judgement and slowed reflexes.  There are many large industrial disasters that were ruled in the end to have happened because someone fell asleep on the job, e.g.  the Three Mile Island nuclear accident and the Exon Valdex oil spill.

There is an increasing awareness and concern among sleep specialists and highway safety experts about the prevalence of drowsy driving among all drivers, but especially commerical divers.  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (www.nhtsa.gov) estimates that 100,000 crashes occur each year due to drowsey driving involving 76,000 injuries and 1,500 deaths.  This is just an estimate because most crashes are single driver accidents.  The tell-tale signs, which unfortuneately most police are not taught to look for, are:  (1) Single Driver; (2) Time of accident is either very late at night or during the circadian dip that occurs in the afternoon; (3) No attempt to avoid the crash (which makes drowsy driving very deadly).  In April 2009, the National Highway Traffic Safety issued its review of a  prototype for a Drowsy Driver Warning System to be used by commercial drivers.  The report concluded that this is promising technology and more development in this area is likely to occur over the next few years. See the full report at ( http://www.nhtsa.gov/portal/site/nhtsa/menuitem.54757ba83ef160af9a7ccf10dba046a0/

 Auto manufacturers are looking into offering such devices for passenger vehicles.  But we don’t want millions of sleepy people relying on such devices in order to continue to drive drowsy.  I encourage my readers to see a sleep specialist if they have problems sleeping at night or are unusually sleepy in the daytime for unknown reasons. I urge people to take drowsy driving as seriously as they do drunk driving:  It can be just as deadly.