Bam Labs aims to make health monitoring easier for people while they sleep. Notably, the company’s sensor is not wearable, but it tracks heart rate, breathing, and movement during sleep, and the company says it can even diagnose sleep apnea — all from a mattress pad located beneath the user.

The Bam Labs device was designed by former Apple employees. It is intended for use both in clinical settings and for home health.

The device functions through a sensor “at one corner of the pad. Air-pressure fluctuations caused by the tiny tremors caused by heartbeats or the more sizable shaking that occurs when someone turns over or gets out of bed are measured and controlled. Read the rest of this entry

The Center at Norwalk Hospital will be hosting its first Sleep Apnea Support Group for Children on Saturday, Nov. 12.  Parents and children are invited to attend the educational event.

Kass will address the group with a talk, “The Significance of Snoring at Any Age.”. In general, symptoms of sleep apnea in toddlers may include tantrums and irritability. As children get older, the lack of sleep may manifest itself as hyperactivity, acting out, poor grades in school, mood swings, and even a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

“In addition to the potential health issues associated with sleep apnea, we see children who suffer from fatigue and attention issues due to interruption in sleep,” said Kass.

The program is being offered as a public service and as part of A.W.A.K.E (Alert, Well, and Keeping Energetic) of the American Sleep Apnea Association.  A.W.A.K.E. is a health awareness program offered to those who suffer from sleep apnea, as well as their family, friends and anyone who is interested in learning more.

The Nov. 12 support group will include face painting and drawing activities for children.  Children are encouraged to bring their CPAP masks for a fitting by experienced sleep technicians.  CPAP users and family are being encouraged to share their tips for successful sleeping with CPAP.

Sleep Apnea Support Group for Children: 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 12, in the fifth floor Patio Room at Norwalk Hospital.  The event is free and seating is limited.  Register by calling (203) 852-2821 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            (203) 852-2821     end_of_the_skype_highlighting or (203) 852-2833 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            (203) 852-2833     end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

The ResMed S9 is a uniquly designed sleep apnea device and only because of this the device ResMed S9 won a Red Dot design award last year.

Michael Farrell, senior vice president at ResMed’s global sleep strategic business unit, said: “Great design in medical devices should combine good looks, innovation and user-friendliness, as well as address an unmet medical need.”

The device uses special quality plastics in its manufacturing. This is called the “ Cycoloy polycarbonate/acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (PC/ABS) resin”.Sabic Innovative Plastics is the company that manufactures the ”Lexan and Cycoloy materials” that have been used in the making of the award-winning ResMed S9 series of sleep apnea devices.

Sabic’s Cycoloy polycarbonate/acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (PC/ABS) resin is used to mould the complex, thin-wall S9 chassis. The high-flow material uses a non-halogenated flame retardant.

The tough Sabic Lexan polycarbonate is biocompatible and has a high-quality surface finish. It is used for the S9 top case and also in ResMed’s H5i humidifier flip lid.

The company says: “These new devices are designed with the SABIC Lexan and Cycoloy resin materials to be unobtrusive in the home – looking more like a clock radio or stereo than a piece of medical equipment.”

Sleep apnea is a deadly sleep disorder.The overall effects of sleep apnea are more cumulative in nature and could kill a person being in association with other several disorders and diseases.

In the case of sleep apnea, which is cessation of breathing while sleeping, it can lead to high blood pressure and heart failure, stroke, diabetes, sexual dysfunction; and because it promotes a dangerous lack of good sleep, it also is being blamed for many traffic fatalities in this country brought about by drowsy drivers.

Former NFL players  like Aaron Taylor, a big former Chargers offensive lineman, and Rolf Benirschke, a thin former Chargers kicker, both have suffered from sleep apnea. Both of these NFL stars are contributing towards awareness of sleep apnea among masses.They are doing it through education, because the way to beat this thing is to go to bed wearing masks attached to positive airway pressure devices. Read the rest of this entry

People with diabetes and obstructive sleep apnea are at greater risk of hypoglycemia, a newly concluded research revealed.

People suffering from a sleep disorder who also had poor autonomic function had significantly more hypoglycemia than those with more normal function (P<0.05), Jennifer Cheng, MD, of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in Chicago, and colleagues reported here at the World Congress on Insulin Resistance, Diabetes, and Cardiovascular Disease meeting.

“We expected that the symptomatic obstructive sleep apnea patients would have more hyperglycemia, but they actually had more hypoglycemia,” Cheng told MedPage Today. “Clinicians should take into account autonomic function when recommending tight glucose regulation because of the adverse effects that hypoglycemia can cause.” Read the rest of this entry

Sleep apnea screening is rare among psychiatric patients at present, but it’s important to diagnose obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) because it can make mental illness worse, contributing to depression and possibly to the risk of manic episodes.

The symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea can mimic mental illness as well, making patients irritable and tired. If a patient is diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea it will further complicate the use of benzodiazepines and other respiratory depressants in such patients.

The lead investigator Dr. Vanita Jain, a psychiatry department resident at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City says,” “Sleep problems are so integral to psychiatric problems, [and] we wanted to make sure that along with psychiatric disorders, we were treating obstructive sleep apnea, too”. Read the rest of this entry

How many times have you gone to bed only to find out you just can’t fall asleep? Or, let’s say, how many times have you woken up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason? Sleep problems – even disorders – appear to be in the rise in our modern world, for a variety of reasons.

For instance, health conditions such as obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). This condition is characterized by irregular breathing, often an inability to breathe at all for short periods of time. Because of this, people with OSAS tend to wake up several times in the same night, and therefore lose much needed sleep. The causes of this illness range from brain injury and physical abnormalities to loss of muscle tone due to substance abuse or a sedentary lifestyle. OSAS has also been linked to obesity. [   Read Complete Post  ...   ]

University of Chicago scientists have dovered important new relationships between obesity, sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and cognitive processing among elementary school children.

“The intricate interdependencies between BMI, SDB and cognition shown in our study are of particular importance in children, as their brains are still rapidly developing,” says study author Karen Spruyt, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the Pritzer School of Medicine. “Rising rates of obesity in children may amplify these relationships. Public health campaigns targeting obesity should emphasize not only the health benefits but the potential educational benefits of losing weight.”

The findings were published online ahead of print publication in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Read the rest of this entry

A new classification system detailing the type of signals measured by home sleep testing devices for diagnosing obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) appears in the latest issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

The proposed system categorizes home sleep testing devices, called out-of-center (OOC) testing devices in the paper, based on measurements of Sleep, Cardiovascular, Oximetry, Position, Effort, and Respiratory (SCOPER) parameters. Criteria for evaluating the devices are also presented, based on pre-test and post-test probabilities.

The first widely used classification system for describing sleep testing devices was published by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) in 1994. Read the rest of this entry

A study appearing in the November 2011 issue of the Journal of  Clinical Sleep Medicine finds that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)  patients treated with Provent Sleep Apnea Therapywere not only compliant  with the therapy but also showed a reduction in apnea-hypopnea index  (AHI).

“This study provides further validation that Provent Therapy is an  effective treatment for some OSA patients as it reduces daytime  sleepiness, apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), and snoring associated with this  prevalent condition,” said Meir Kryger, MD, of Gaylord Sleep Medicine  and past president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

“Patients  reported wearing the device almost 90% of the nights, which represents  very high compliance. The current gold standard, continuous positive  airway pressure (CPAP) is very effective but many patients do not use it  adequately. Provent represents an important new treatment option for  many obstructive sleep apnea patients.” Read the rest of this entry

A newly concluded research study findings published online in the European Respiratory Journal, evaluated the impact a Mediterranean diet can have on obese people with sleep apnea, compared to those on a prudent diet.The study revealed that Mediterranean diet combined with physical activity can help to improve some of the symptoms of sleep apnea.

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) causes frequent pauses of breathing to occur during sleep, which disrupts a person’s normal sleeping pattern. It is one of the most prevalent sleep-related breathing disorders with approximately 2-4% of the adult population experiencing the condition. This percentage increases up to 20-40% with obesity, and weight loss is often an essential part of the recommended treatment plan.

The researchers, from the University of Crete in Greece, examined 40 obese patients suffering from OSAS. Twenty patients were given a prudent diet to follow, while the other 20 followed a Mediterranean diet. Both groups were also encouraged to increase their physical activity, mainly involving walking for at least 30 minutes each day.

In both groups, the patients also received continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy which involves wearing a mask that generates an air stream, keeping the upper airway open during sleep. Read the rest of this entry

Aviisha Medical Institute, LLC has released its long-anticipated Guide  to Obstructive Sleep Apnea. The guide was authored by Aviisha’s Medical  Director, Dr. Avi Ishaaya, and is the only online guide written by a certified  sleep physician. The guide is free to download and share and can be accessed at www.aviisha.com/new/ebook.

“In addition to testing and treating patients, one of our main goals at the  institute is raising awareness about sleep apnea,” said Dr. Avi. “Sleep apnea  affects one in every five to fifteen people, but 80-90% of them are undiagnosed  and in need of treatment. We created this ebook to help spread the word about  sleep apnea.”

The ebook is packed useful information about diagnosing and treating sleep  apnea, including:

•      Biology and Causes of Sleep Apnea
•     Dangers and Complications
•     Risk Factors
•     Screening for OSA Read the rest of this entry