Friday, November 5, 2010

Daylight Savings Ends Sunday

If you have trouble sleeping, there's good news - you are getting an extra hour this weekend.

Don't forget to adjust your clocks an hour back at 2 a.m. Sunday due to the end of Daylight Savings. But you may also want to pause this weekend to ask if you are one of the 60 million Americans who has a sleep disorder.

A lack of quality sleep is often responsible for car crashes and mistakes and accidents in the workplace, not to mention that it can make you feel miserable.

Some sleep disorders, like obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), exact a heavy toll on one’s health. OSA has been linked to high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke. OSA, in which the upper airway repeatedly becomes blocked during sleep, is a condition that affects 24 percent of men and 8 percent of women. Symptoms include loud, irregular snoring; restless sleep with frequent (and possibly unnoticed) awakening; and waking up with a headache, dry mouth and/or sore throat.

Other common sleep disorder symptoms include daytime sleepiness; frequent nighttime urination; irritability or moodiness; memory loss; and poor concentration.

If you haven’t been getting a good night’s sleep lately, you owe it to yourself – and to your long-term health – to talk with your doctor about having a sleep study and seeing a sleep specialist.

Sleep studies are covered by most insurance plans. If you have a referral from your physician for a sleep study and consultation, appointments for a sleep study are available seven days a week at the sleep centers at Northwest and Sinai. To schedule a sleep study, call 410-601-9355.

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