March 7 - 13 marks National Sleep Awareness Week, an educational campaign to remind people about the importance of sleep. It’s believed that the vast majority of sleep disorder cases go undiagnosed, and therefore many people suffer unnecessarily.
However, a lack of quality sleep can be dangerous and lead to motor vehicle accidents, if not to other types of health risks. If you have one or more of these signs of a sleep disorder, please contact your primary care doctor:
• Daytime sleepiness
• Frequent nighttime urination
• High blood pressure
• Irritability or moodiness
• Loud, irregular snoring
• Memory loss
• Morning headaches
• Poor concentration
If you’re a loud snorer who doesn’t feel rested enough during the day, you may be unwittingly putting your heart at risk. That’s because you could have untreated Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), a disorder directly linked to several cardiovascular syndromes that cause premature death. OSA, in which the upper airway becomes blocked repeatedly during sleep, is a condition that’s estimated to affect 24 percent of men and 8 percent of women.
Over the past decade, several studies have linked OSA to high blood pressure. Patients who require three or more medications to control hypertension have an 80 percent chance of having OSA. Also, compared to the general population the prevalence of OSA is significantly higher among patients with chronic heart failure (50 percent higher), atrial fibrillation (50 percent higher) and coronary artery disease (40 percent higher). For patients with these heart conditions, a sleep study is crucial; if their OSA goes undiagnosed and untreated, they will have a doubled risk for death during the next 5 years.
Given OSA’s direct connection to the heart, it’s important for all OSA patients that it be treated as soon as possible. However, it’s believed that between 80 percent and 90 percent of people with OSA have not yet been diagnosed. Please talk with your doctor as soon as possible if you have one or more of these symptoms:
• Cessation of breathing during sleep, and then waking up with a gasp (most often observed by another)
• Loud, irregular snoring
• Restless sleep with frequent (and possibly unnoticed) awakening
• Morning headache, dry mouth and/or sore throat
• Daytime sleepiness
• Irritability and/or impaired concentration
• High blood pressure
A sleep disorder can only be diagnosed through a sleep study, in which things such as one’s breathing, heart rate, muscle movements and blood oxygen levels are measured while he or she sleeps. Both Sinai and Northwest hospitals have American Academy of Sleep Medicine accredited sleep centers, where sleep studies are performed on all nights of the week. For more information about either center, please contact 410-601-WELL (9355).
-Holly Hosler
Showing posts with label National Sleep Awareness Week. Show all posts
Showing posts with label National Sleep Awareness Week. Show all posts
Monday, March 7, 2011
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Daylight Savings Time Starts Tomorrow
If you find yourself tired at work next Monday morning, it could be because this weekend will be the shortest one of the year. (Don’t forget to “spring” your clocks forward before bed tonight, as Daylight Savings Time begins at 2 a.m. Sunday.) Or, it could be because you suffer from one or more of 85 known sleep disorders.
This past week (March 7 – 13) was National Sleep Awareness Week. Doctors estimate that 60 million Americans suffer from one or more sleep disorders, and yet it is believed that 95 percent of sleep disorder cases remain undiagnosed.
This is unfortunate. Lack of quality sleep is often responsible for car crashes and mistakes and accidents in the workplace.
Plus 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 Hospitals. To schedule a sleep study, call 410-601-9355.
Daylight Savings Fun Facts
Did you know that Benjamin Franklin was the first one to record the idea of daylight savings? He thought it could be an economical way to save energy if church bells would ring earlier than usual in the summer to wake up people shortly after sunrise. With the early waking time, people would be persuaded to go to bed sooner, thus saving on candles and oil for lamps to light time spent awake in the dark.
In the U.S., Daylight Savings Time (DST) began in 1918. At that time, each local jurisdiction passed its own rules about whether or not to go on DST and on what day, which occasionally led to confusion about what time it was and where. (Imagine what air travel must have been like in those days!) Not until 1966 did the United States pass the Uniform Time Act, which standardized the dates that states must observe DST. However, states are still free to not use DST, and Arizona and Hawaii are currently the only ones that skip the biannual ritual of changing clocks.
What do you think about DST? Does it affect your sleep?
If you have repeated sleep problems and want to schedule an appointment at a sleep center, call 410-601-WELL.
This past week (March 7 – 13) was National Sleep Awareness Week. Doctors estimate that 60 million Americans suffer from one or more sleep disorders, and yet it is believed that 95 percent of sleep disorder cases remain undiagnosed.
This is unfortunate. Lack of quality sleep is often responsible for car crashes and mistakes and accidents in the workplace.
Plus 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 Hospitals. To schedule a sleep study, call 410-601-9355.
Daylight Savings Fun Facts
Did you know that Benjamin Franklin was the first one to record the idea of daylight savings? He thought it could be an economical way to save energy if church bells would ring earlier than usual in the summer to wake up people shortly after sunrise. With the early waking time, people would be persuaded to go to bed sooner, thus saving on candles and oil for lamps to light time spent awake in the dark.
In the U.S., Daylight Savings Time (DST) began in 1918. At that time, each local jurisdiction passed its own rules about whether or not to go on DST and on what day, which occasionally led to confusion about what time it was and where. (Imagine what air travel must have been like in those days!) Not until 1966 did the United States pass the Uniform Time Act, which standardized the dates that states must observe DST. However, states are still free to not use DST, and Arizona and Hawaii are currently the only ones that skip the biannual ritual of changing clocks.
What do you think about DST? Does it affect your sleep?
If you have repeated sleep problems and want to schedule an appointment at a sleep center, call 410-601-WELL.
Labels:
National Sleep Awareness Week
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Sleep quantity and quality are key to good health
In observance of National Sleep Awareness Week (March 1-8), representatives from the Northwest Hospital Sleep Disorders Center will be in the Old Court Cafe March 2 - 6, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Sleep quantity and quality are key factors to our health and well being, so if you think that you may not be getting enough sleep, stop by our cafeteria booth to speak with our staff. Northwest Hospital is home to a state-of-the-art sleep disorders center with hotel-like rooms with Comfort Select sleep number beds. The center can perform diagnostic testing, evaluation, and treatment of sleep disorders and has private physician clinics. All physicians affiliated with the Sleep Center are board-certified in the area of sleep medicine.
For more information about sleep disorders, see us at lunch during Sleep Awareness Week or contact the Northwest Hospital Sleep Disorders Center at 410-601-WELL (9355).
Sleep quantity and quality are key factors to our health and well being, so if you think that you may not be getting enough sleep, stop by our cafeteria booth to speak with our staff. Northwest Hospital is home to a state-of-the-art sleep disorders center with hotel-like rooms with Comfort Select sleep number beds. The center can perform diagnostic testing, evaluation, and treatment of sleep disorders and has private physician clinics. All physicians affiliated with the Sleep Center are board-certified in the area of sleep medicine.
For more information about sleep disorders, see us at lunch during Sleep Awareness Week or contact the Northwest Hospital Sleep Disorders Center at 410-601-WELL (9355).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)