Sleep affects a person’s waking hours more than a person realizes. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, about 60 million Americans suffer from insomnia or other sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea, restless limb syndrome, narcolepsy, delayed or advanced sleep phase syndrome and parasomnias. 

The Alert, Well and Keeping Energy (AWAKE) sleep support group is part of the Piedmont Newnan Sleep Center’s efforts to help patients get the rest they need to lead normal, productive lives.

“People don’t realize the affect and power a good night’s sleep has on people,” says Jennifer Morrow, the Piedmont Newnan Hospital Sleep Center and AWAKE support group coordinator.

Some common symptoms of not getting enough rest include excessive sleepiness during daytime hours, loud snoring, pauses during breathing while asleep, morning headaches, restless legs during sleep and exhaustion despite having enough sleep hours. Read the rest of this entry

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes,  Sleep Apnea remains a growing health concern with an estimated 18 million  Americans suffering.  Sleep Group Solutions offers dental continuing education  courses, with an emphasis in Dental Sleep Medicine.  With a growing demand for  treatment, SGS is now offering an Advanced course to the dental community,  taught by Dr.  Daniel Tache, Diplomat of the Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine, the current  president of the Wisconsin Sleep Society and an instructor for Sleep Group  Solutions.

Now more than ever, dentists are seeking higher education to learn new skills  and protocols on proper treatment methods for snoring and sleep apnea.  Sleep  Group Solutions is currently the leader in dental continuing education for  Dental Sleep Medicine, offering over 60 courses in 2012.

Dentists such as Dr. Larry  Grillo in Aventura, Fl attended a course from SGS and currently is one of  the few dentists in the area screening and treating sleep apnea.  “Treating  obstructive sleep apnea impacts the systemic health of our patients more  significantly than almost any other service we provide. Read the rest of this entry

The prevalence of obesity in children has tripled in last 30 years, leading to children developing adult medical problems, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and sleep apnea.

While the childhood obesity epidemic is severe, we are seeing a decline in certain populations. In the United States alone, more than 12 million children and adolescents are considered obese.

Children who are obese are also more likely to continue on to be obese as an adult. Read the rest of this entry

One of the most common health disorders among people around the world is “sleep apnea”. In its simplest sense ‘sleep apnea’ can be understood as one or more pauses in normal breathing. In many cases the shallow breathing during sleep is also termed as ‘sleep apnea’.

A pause in normal breathing during sleep may have an undefined duration. Meaning thereby, the pause could be for a few seconds only or it can even stretch up to few minutes.

Similarly, the rate of occurrence of such pauses during sleep may also vary up to great ranges. It could be five times per hour or even up to 30 times an hour. Normal breathing generally starts immediately after such a pause but this re-start could generate a snoring or choking sound as well.

Once a person is a victim of ‘sleep apnea’ this disorder converts in to a chronic disorder slowly over the years. In majority of the cases people never realize that the ‘sleep apnea disorder’ has crept in their lives. Read the rest of this entry

If you are suffering from the deadly sleep disorder called the obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) then you’re not breathing properly while you sleep because your airflow is blocked repeatedly throughout the night.

Almost one in four men and one in ten women suffer from sleep apnea. There are three different types of sleep apnea but obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common. And it goes hand-in-hand with type 2 diabetes.

Among all of the sleep disorders, OSA has the strongest association with type 2 diabetes. That’s even taking into account other risk factors, such as weight, sex and age.

The main risk factor for OSA is obesity. Excess weight deposits extra fat around the thorax, reducing chest compliance and functional capacity, while increasing oxygen demand. Read the rest of this entry

Sleep apnea is a deadly sleep disorder and as soon as you spot out any symptoms of this deadly disorder it is always best to go to a sleep specialist and follow his instructions.

A good sleep specialist will probably recommend CPAP, surgery, or oral appliance therapy. This list is not necessarily an alternative to CPAP, surgery, or oral appliances, but rather supplementary methods that decrease the probability of airway collapse.

Usually these methods are not enough to entirely eliminate sleep apnea disorder however there are effective ways either. Here are six of such probable ways ;

1. Lose Your Extra Weight

Unless you are extremely overweight AND your sleep apnea is mild, usually weight loss is not enough to entirely eliminate it. But it can definitely help. Weight loss is thought to improve apnea by changing the shape of the airway which decreases the probability of airway collapse. Read the rest of this entry

You could be just one among the millions of people all across the globe who are suffering from a sleep disorder. Even more disturbing is the fact that majority of the persons suffering from sleep disorders are undiagnosed.

How can you be so sure that if you have a sleep disorder?

Here are some of the most commonly occurring health conditions and symptoms that you may be experiencing significant as a typical sleep problem that requires urgent professional evaluation.

1.You have trouble going to sleep at night

While this is a common complaint among the normal population, if the problem persists it may signal the presence of a sleep disorder.                        Read the rest of this entry

Children are busy these days with texting, talking on the phone, and video games and this could leave them heavily sleep deprived. Apart from all these gadgets and other activities there is another monster that’s robbing them of a good night’s rest.

Getting your kid to sleep like a baby is harder than ever these days. If you have a teen, you know exactly what is this all about.

Edward Grandi with the American Sleep Apnea Association says, “They go to bed and immediately they’re texting their friends, or they’re looking at movies.”

Or they’re on Facebook or Twitter or checking their email, it’s endless. Read the rest of this entry

Sleep disorders often remain undiagnosed. Untreated sleep disorders among police officers may adversely affect their health and safety and pose a risk to the public.

Researchers examined and evaluated associations between sleep disorder risk and self-reported health, safety, and performance outcomes in police officers.

Cross-sectional and prospective cohort study of North American police officers participating in either an online or an on-site screening (n=4957) and monthly follow-up surveys (n=3545 officers representing 15 735 person-months) between July 2005 and December 2007. A total of 3693 officers in the United States and Canada participated in the online screening survey, and 1264 officers from a municipal police department and a state police department participated in the on-site survey.             Read the rest of this entry

A new study presented in November at the American College of Allergy, Asthma  and Immunology Annual Meeting found that obese adolescents have an increased risk of sleep apnea or abnormal breathing during sleep.

Previous research has shown that obese children and teenagers are at higher  risk of health-related problems, including heart disease, diabetes, high blood  pressure and asthma. Children who are overweight are nearly 2-1/2 times more  likely to have asthma than those who are not overweight. Now, this new study  highlights how obesity may interfere with a child’s ability to have restful  sleep.

“Quality nighttime sleep is a key component for advanced executive function  in children and teenagers,” says Sushmita Mikkilineni, M.D., Director Pediatric  Pulmonology for Children’s Hospital of New Jersey (CHoNJ) at Newark Beth Israel  Medical Center. “Untreated pediatric sleep disorders, including sleep apnea, can  exact a heavy toll on young people. Children suffering from sleep disorders may  be hyperactive, inattentive, and chronically tired.” 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

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 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

SleepApneaDisorder/ [  Press Release  ]/ Versailles, Ohio /October 17, 2011/ Sleep Apnea: A Growing Health Concern According to the National Institute  of Neurological Disorders and Strokes, an estimated 18 million Americans have  sleep apnea. However, few of them have had the problem diagnosed.

Sleep apnea is the repeated interruption of normal breathing during sleep.  Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common type of breathing-related sleep disorder. In patients with OSA, the airway collapses, temporarily restricting  airflow to the lungs. This partial airway obstruction causes the upper airway  tissue to vibrate and produce the sound of the classic snore.

As OSA develops, it has a cumulative effect, meaning that the longer the  disease goes untreated, the greater the negative side effects and associated  health risks. According to numerous  research studies, if sleep apnea remains untreated, other health conditions  may emerge or current health problems may worsen, including: Read the rest of this entry

Snoring is among the common sleep problems in adults, especially in middle-aged men. And children and kids are equally prone to this most uncomfortable sleep disorder.The effects of snoring upon the overall health of children is established to be detrimental up to great extent.

Association of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea, or OSA among kids and children has now become a more common occurrence. Across the globe occurrence of persistent snoring on most nights has been reported in 8-12 percent of children.

The incidence of OSA (with significant upper airway obstruction leading to   oxygen desaturation and/or sleep fragmentation) is 2-3 percent in children under the age of 10. Read the rest of this entry