More and more, people are waking up to the importance of sleep. It may not get the attention of diet and exercise, but it is equally important to a person's health, safety and quality of life.
Indeed, a recent study of nearly 72,000 nurses revealed that too little sleep or too much sleep could even raise the risk of heart disease. The study showed that women who average five hours of sleep per night were 39 percent more likely to develop heart disease than women who got eight hours of sleep per night, and those sleeping only six hours had an 18 percent higher risk of developing blocked arteries.
Bottom line: if you are not spending enough time in the arms of Morpheus, it can negatively affect all other parts of your body and your life.
"Sleep disorders adversely impact other aspects of people's lives in many ways," said Eric Baumann, director of respiratory care at Falmouth Hospital, "from simple day-to-day cognitive function to emotional issues, to depression to cardiac problems, to sexual dysfunction to overall quality of life. The good news is that most sleep disorders are common and they are treatable."
Eric, one of only 10,000 Registered Polysomnographic Technologists (RPGST) in the world -- Falmouth Hospital has four -- runs the Falmouth Hospital Sleep Lab. The lab offers four comfortable sleep study suites in a newly renovated area with digital diagnostic technology. Staffed by Registered Respiratory Therapists and Registered Polysomnographic Technologists, the lab is open seven nights per week and appointments are available with a physician referral.
Sleep disorders, Eric stressed, are more widespread than you may think.
Approximately 9 percent of U.S. males and 5 percent of U.S. females suffer from sleep apnea -- defined as the cessation of breathing during sleep. These numbers jump to about 25 percent when you are talking about overall sleep disorders.
How do you know if you have a sleep disorder? Sleep disorder symptoms are varied and multiple and can occur during the night or day. They include loud, frequent snoring, gasping for breath during sleep, unrefreshing sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness/fatigue.
"People tend not to realize that they have a sleep disorder," Eric said. "Usually a bed partner flags it, or a physician. Now it's a more standard question among physicians. Often people are experiencing depression, but they really have sleep apnea. We treat the sleep apnea and they feel like a new person."
Methods for treating sleep apnea have come a long way. Years ago, doctors would typically treat the problem by putting a stoma or hole into a patient's neck to bypass the sleeping obstruction. Now, treatment methods range from C-PAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) -- in which a mask is hooked up to a compressor that gently blows a pre-adjusted amount of air through the nose and/or nose and mouth, creating air pressure that pushes tissue aside and opens airways -- to a procedure in which tissue in the throat is shrunk via radio frequency waves, minimizing pain while tightening up loose and enlarged tissue.
The sleep disorders field has progressed far in recent years. "It's a combination of respiratory and neurology," Eric said. "We can look at the sleeping brain and know if you are sleeping or not."
A Cape-wide Sleep Apnea Awareness Support Group -- led by Erica Nelson of the Falmouth Hospital Sleep Lab -- meets regularly at Yarmouth Senior Center. Anyone with sleep apnea -- or other sleep disorders -- as well as family members, support people, or anyone interested in learning more about sleep apnea or other sleep disorders is welcome to attend. Call Mike and Deirdre Leyden at 508-398-7554 for more information.
"People are getting so much more educated about sleep disorders," Eric said. "It's a relatively new field of medicine, but it has already come a long way."
For more information about sleep disorders, contact the Falmouth Hospital Sleep Disorders Lab at 508-457-3872. Falmouth Hospital is a partner with the Cape Cod Healthcare system.
David Reilly is communications director of Cape Cod Healthcare