Sleep Apnea Disorder

In addition to a healthy diet and regular exercise, getting enough restful sleep is the most important thing you can do for your health. Proper sleep is one of the keys to looking and feeling your best, yet it’s estimated that up to 70 percent of Americans are chronically sleep deprived. Unfortunately this is consistent with what I see in my NYC practice.

Chronic sleep problems interfere with your body’s natural rhythms and rob it of the time it needs to restore itself. The incidence of many diseases including diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attacks and depression increases with a lack of sleep. Recent research has even shown a connection between poor sleep and weight gain. We simply weren’t built to just go, go, go. We were built to go, go, go and then rest, rest, rest. We evolved according to the natural rhythms of darkness and light; our bodily functions reflect this and undergo similar fluctuations. They perform best when we live in accordance, as much as possible, with these cycles. [Read the rest of the article at Huffington Post....]

When you snore regularly, you impact the quality of you and your loved one’s sleep and that can wreak havoc on the quality of your life. But your nightly snoring may also be a sign of a more dangerous sleep disorder that, if left untreated, could lead to death.

“Snoring, especially heavy snoring that disturbs a bed partner’s sleep, is often associated with a condition known as sleep apnea, which may increase one’s risk of hypertension, arrhythmias and sudden death during sleep,” says Mangala Nadkarni, M.D., Medical Director of The Center for Sleep Disorders at Saint Barnabas Medical Center.

To determine if you are at risk for a sleep disorder, attend a free community lecture, “Getting a Good Night Sleep,” on March 22, 2010, at 6:00 p.m. in the Dining Room at Saint Barnabas Health Care System Corporate Office, 95 Old Short Hills Road in West Orange, N.J. (located across the street from the Emergency Department). Dr. Nadkarni will address the health risks associated with snoring and other sleep-related disorders and discuss how they are evaluated, diagnosed and managed. Pre-registration is request by calling 1-888-SBHS-123 (1-888-724-7123) and selecting prompt #4.

The Center for Sleep Disorders at Saint Barnabas Medical Center is accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and offers a full range of services used in the evaluation, diagnosis and management of sleep-related disorders in adults and children. The Center is equipped with the latest monitoring equipment, providing the opportunity for daytime testing and full overnight sleep studies. For more information about sleep disorders, please call 973-322-9800 or visit www.saintbarnabas.com.

By Nicki McDaniels

The National Institutes of Health estimates that sleep-related problems affect 50 to 70 million Americans. National Sleep Awareness Week, March 7-13, is an annual observation to bring public awareness to the importance of sleep. Ironically, this observation ends with the clocks changing to Daylight Saving Time, causing Americans to lose one hour of sleep.

Sleepless nights can lead to major health problems and repeated nights with inadequate sleep have been associated with a wide range of health consequences including hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, heart attack and stroke. In order to maintain a regular daily sleep schedule you should:

• Avoid stimulants including cigarettes, caffeinated food and beverages in the late afternoon and evening.
• Do not sleep in a warm environment.
• Catch up on missed sleep when you can by sleeping in on the weekends or taking naps when you have the opportunity. [Read the rest of this entry...]

By Lynn Hsieh

Does attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ADHD) affect your child’s sleeping behavior? And in turn, does poor sleep affect attentiveness and impulsivity? New research points to a connection between sleep problems and ADD/ADHD.

Many parents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) kids are familiar with the problems associated with bedtime: children may start whining and crying before turning in for the night, have difficulty falling asleep, and frequently wake up in fits and starts. Well, according to a recent article published in the September 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, there is a possible link between ADD/ADHD and sleep disorders. Researchers found that children with the condition demonstrate significantly more difficulty sleeping at night than their undiangnosed peers.

In the past, psychiatrists have overlooked sleep disturbances caused by ADD/ADHD because previous studies on the subject provided mixed evidence. The recent finding that children with ADD/ADHD do have more sleep disturbances, however, “lays the groundwork for [future] studies aimed at elucidating if the treatment of sleep disturbances may improve daytime ADHD symptoms,” said Samuele Cortese, M.D., Ph.D., child psychiatrist at the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit in University Hospital Clocheville in Tours, France, and one of the authors of the study.

Researches found that children with ADD/ADHD showed more bedtime resistance, such as refusing to get ready for or remain in bed, difficulty with falling asleep, and restless sleep — often awakening frequently in the middle of the night compared with children without ADD/ADHD. They also had more symptoms of sleep-disordered breathing — snoring, pauses in breathing, and sleep apnea — as well as more difficulties waking up in the morning, and increased daytime sleepiness. [Read the rest of this entry...]

CHICAGO–[Press Release]-The second week in March (7th-13th) is recognized as National Sleep Awareness Week and the bioidentical hormone doctors at BodyLogicMD support the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) in raising awareness about the importance of sleep and educating the public on how their quality of rest affects their overall quality of health.

According to a 2009 NSF Sleep in America study, 44 percent of American adults experience symptoms of insomnia and the majority of them attribute sleeplessness to getting older, unaware that an underlying hormone issue may in fact be the culprit.

“Sleep is essential to life and although we may not think we get much accomplished while we sleep, our bodies are actually hard at work throughout the night, performing a variety of biological processes to help restore organs and tissues and optimize bodily and cognitive functions.” shares BodyLogicMD of Chicago Dr. Joseph Mazzei. “Our body needs adequate sleep to produce important hormones and neurotransmitters, such as human growth hormone (HGH) and serotonin.” [Read the rest of this entry...]

By Perry Smith
 
Just about everyone has endured a few restless nights of sleep every now and then.

It could be anxiety before a big test that keeps your mind spinning well after it should be in rest mode.

Or maybe it’s the grief from a personal loss that has you sad and distracted as you try to drift off.

“It’s something about being in a dark bedroom, and the mind starts going over all the problems we have in our life,” said Dr. Peter Fotinakes, director of sleep medicine at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Orange.

It can become a vicious cycle that often worsens before it gets better, Fotinakes warned.

“And after a few nights, the mind can become very anxious because a performance anxiety can develop,” he said.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

By Marina Krizhevskaya

Most teenagers do not get enough sleep and are not concerned with their poor sleeping habits. Many studies have shown the dangers and negative effects of not getting enough sleep.

CBS News recently reported that a new study was conducted that linked sleep deprivation and teen depression. The study done by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center found that teens who don’t get enough sleep are more susceptible to becoming depressed and suicidal.

The study also found that having an earlier bedtime will combat these issues. The study found that teenagers whose bedtimes were midnight or later were 24% more prone to depression and 20% more likely to have suicidal thoughts than those who went to bed at 10 p.m. or earlier. [Read the rest of this entry...]

The Survey 2010: The American Dream released today by the National Sleep Foundation (National Sleep Foundation, NSF) reveals significant differences in habits and attitudes in the dream of Asian negros/afro- Americans, Hispanics and whites. It is the first survey that examines sleep in these four ethnic groups.

The survey The American Dream of the NSF found that more than three quarters of respondents in each ethnic group are in agreement that sleep disorders are associated with health problems (76-83%). These new findings are echoes of lessons learned by former President Bill Clinton who admitted he had recently adopted a new lifestyle regimen of sleeping seven or more hours a day for advice from their doctors.

The survey also shows that all groups report equally disturbing experiences as absences from work or family functions being too sleepy (19-24%). Among the married or cohabiting partners, all ethnic groups reported being too tired to have intercourse frequently (21 to 26% of time). [Read the rest of this entry...]

If you yawn, need naps, or drink a lot of caffeine during the day to stay awake – you may have a sleeping disorder

Phoebe Putney’s sleep clinic has a full staff and 10 rooms where they conduct studies to observe and diagnose people’s sleep disorders.

Sleep apnea is most common among problem sleepers, and sleep specialists note that most people don’t get the necessary amount of sleep to function properly.

Dr. Chris Mann says the population at large isn’t getting the sleep they need.  “Everyone is a little different, but on average most people probably need 7 ½ to 8 hours of sleep a night” says Mann.

Dr. Mann adds that snoring is not necessarily a trait of a sleeping disorder.