Have you been told that you might have sleep apnea and are wondering whether or not it’s worth the time and expense to find out?  Here are some important reasons why you should:

1. Left untreated, sleep apnea can cause death.  38,000 Americans die every year of complications due to sleep apnea.
2. Sleep apnea can cause or exacerbate cardiovascular disease.
3. Sleep apnea can cause or exacerbate diabetes.
4. Sleep apnea can cause or exacerbate high blood pressure.
5. Sleep apnea can cause stroke.
6. Sleep apnea can cause or exacerbate asthma.
7. Sleep apnea can cause or exacerbate depression.
8. Sleep apnea’s loud snoring and choking/gasping for air at night can damage and even ruin relationships.
9. Sleep apnea can make you so exhausted that you can’t perform at work.
10. Sleep apnea can cause extremely dangerous drowsy driving.
11. And if that’s not enough, sleep apnea can cause or exacerbate erectile dysfunction.

Add to all of that the fact that sleep apnea sufferers experience frequent morning headaches and frequently nocturnal urination, and you’ve got a whole host of reasons to consider sleep apnea as something you don’t want to let go untreated.

And here’s another reason:  most cases of sleep apnea can be treated rather easily and effectively!

You’re rushing about wildly, trying to get the shopping done, get to the relatives’ house, trying to jam extra hours into the day, maybe even partying late on week nights.

‘Tis the season … for dangerous drowsy driving.

The roads filling up with college students returning home (often after all-nighters studying for finals), families on the road to visit relatives and friends.  Early morning shopping deals and days that begin and end in the dark all contribute to reduced sleep time and impaired wakefulness.  Add sleep apnea to that mix, and there is strong likelihood that you will encounter or become one of the  drowsy drivers on the road.

Driving simulation studies show that when drivers have been awake for 19 hours, they drive as poorly as when they have a blood alcohol level of 0.10, which is above the legal limit in most states.  If you pull an “all nighter” and then drive, it’s equivalent to driving drunk.   When sleep apnea is also present:  people with untreated mild to moderate sleep apnea, alone, perform worse behind the wheel than people with blood alcohol level of 0.06.

The National Traffic Safety Administration says there are 100,000 crashes per year due to fatigue and sleepiness each year.  And 1,550 deaths.

On average, it takes as little as two seconds of dozing at the wheel to cause you to inadvertently change lanes, swerve into oncoming traffic, or run off the road.

Most drivers do not realize that they are too sleepy and over-estimate their vigilance.  The most common warning signs are:

• Trouble focusing
• Frequent yawning and rubbing of eyes
• Daydreaming and wandering thoughts instead of concentrating fully on the road
• Drifting in your lane
• Not remembering the last couple of miles

What to do if you notice ANY of these warning signs:

• Pull over … call the people you are driving to visit and take a nap in a motel
• If there is another person in the car with you, switch drivers
• Don’t be macho … recognize that your warning signs can be the precursor to an accident … often not only involving you and the people in your car, but pedestrians and people in other cards.

What to do if you suspect sleep apnea:   take our free online sleep apnea risk assessment test at www.sleepwellandlive.com .

Don’t hesitate to contact your local sleep center and get evaluated.   Lives may well hang in the balance.

From the “Is this a Good Use of Research Money?” file:

Golfers who undergo treatment for sleep apnea may improve their golf game as well as their overall health, shows new research. A new study presented at CHEST 2009, the 75th annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), found that golfers with OSA who received nasal positive airway pressure (NPAP) therapy for their disorder improved their daytime sleepiness scores and lowered their golf handicap by as much as three strokes. Researchers suggest that the possibility of improving your golf game may be a significant motivator to improve NPAP compliance rates among golfers.

“More so than many sports, golf has a strong intellectual component, with on-course strategizing, focus, and endurance being integral components to achieving good play,” said Marc L. Benton, MD, FCCP, Atlantic Sleep and Pulmonary Associates, Madison, NJ. “OSAS can lead to daytime sleepiness, fatigue, and cognitive impairment, all side effects that can negatively impact a person’s ability to golf to the best of their ability.”

Okay … these findings may encourage some golfers to be compliant with their therapy, and that’s good.  But this story has attracted major news media attention all over the country.  FAR more important for people to know is that treating sleep apnea saves lives, saves marriages, helps diabetics to better manage their disease, and prevents co-morbidities like cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke, asthma, depression and erectile dysfunction.  That is what people really need to know about getting treated for sleep apnea.

The Reggie White Sleep Disorders Research and Education Foundation has developed a free iPhone application that enables users to determine if they are at risk for obstructive sleep apnea.

The “app,” called Sleep Well, combines three screening tools used by sleep specialists to determine an individual’s risk of having or developing the sleep disorder that affects 18 million Americans. It provides immediate feedback once users provide answers to questions regarding their sleep habits, snoring, fatigue, and health factors. iPhone users may find and obtain the app at http://appshopper.com/healthcare-fitness/sleep-well.

The app also includes a feature that will list nearby sleep disorders centers for users.  According to Foundation Executive Director Steve Gardner, sleep disorders centers can be added to the app’s directory upon making a one-time $100 donation to the non-profit organization.  Co-founded shortly after the former Packers Hall of Famer died prematurely at age 43 by his wife, Sara, and the Sleep Wellness Institute, Wisconsin’s oldest and largest independent  sleep disorders center, the foundation’s goal is to spread the word about the dangers of sleep apnea to people of all socio-economic groups and help provide treatment to those who otherwise would be unable to access the healthcare services needed to treat obstructive sleep apnea, the disease that contributed to White’s death.

Millions of Americans will roll their clocks back one hour this weekend for the return to Standard Time. But as clocks move back and we wake on Sunday morning, after “gaining” an extra hour of the day, will Americans use that extra hour to catch up on their sleep? Probably not. According to the National Sleep Foundation’s 2009 Sleep in America™ poll, two out of every ten Americans sleep less than six hours a night. Even with an extra hour, that’s less than necessary for a full night’s rest. The National Sleep Foundation recommends the following tips to help ease the adjustment to standard time:

* Maintain your regular bedtime Saturday night, when clocks move back, and awaken at your regular time on Sunday morning. This can give you an “extra” hour of sleep the next morning and help reduce your sleep debt;
* Block out light and keep your sleeping area dark. Standard time causes the sun to rise about an hour earlier. This can impact sleep, especially for people accustomed to awakening before or around sunrise. The light itself can disturb sleep, so it is always best to sleep in a darkened room;
* Increase the light when you wake up. Light has an alerting affect that may help you wake up. It will also help adjust your biological clock to the “new” sleep schedule;
* Difficulty adjusting to the time change? Staying awake at night or sleeping until your desired wake-up time may be helped by gradually moving bedtime and awakening later by 15 minutes every one to two days.

A recent visitor to our blog came here after doing an internet search for “you can’t die from sleep apnea.”

WRONG!

38,000 Americans die from complications of sleep apnea every year.  For those who think you can’t, I have two words:  Reggie White.

I also recently saw someone on Twitter who said “Sleep is for the weak.”

WRONG!

If you don’t get sufficient sleep, your body builds a “sleep debt” and can actually enter a pre-diabetic state.  So if you’re one of those who think sleep is for the weak, please enjoy your shortened, sleep-deprived life.

Steve Gardner

The Sleep Wellness Institute, Inc., will open its third CPAP2GO store  on Thursday, Oct. 1, in West Allis.  CPAP2GO specializes in continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines, masks and supplies used to help many people with obstructive sleep apnea.  The CPAP2GO stores are the only retail CPAP stores in Wisconsin operated by a sleep disorders center.  The first store opened in Franklin last year, and a Waukesha location opened in April.

The newest store, at 2931 S. 108^th Street, will be open Monday through Saturday, with evening hours Monday through Friday.  It will be staffed by specially trained employees and will feature the “30/30 Advantage” – an in-stock supply of more than 30 masks and a free 30-night comfort and fit guarantee.  Much of the equipment will be covered by most health insurance plans.

The store will be managed by Cody Glorioso, who is the director of the Sleep Wellness Institute’s durable medical equipment department.  The store’s telephone number will be 414-761-CPAP (2727). A website, www.cpap2go.net, provides more information for customers.

The Sleep Wellness Institute is Wisconsin’s largest independent sleep disorders laboratory.  It is fully accredited to diagnose and treat sleep disorders among adults and children by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Billy Mays may have used cocaine and pain killers, but I guarantee you that he died of sleep apnea. If you want to confirm this find out what the time of death was. People who die in their sleep during the latter half of the night (4 to 6 am) typically die of sleep apnea (other notables, Reggie White, John Candy and Divine (from John Waters fame)).

Sleep apnea is a condition marked by snoring. Snoring is caused when the tissue in a person’s neck area begins to collapse around their airway and the tissue in the upper airway begins to flap. To picture this, did you ever blow up a balloon and partially pinch the end of it while letting out the air? It makes a sound similar to snoring. This is the first sign that a person may have sleep apnea. If a person snores, there may be likelihood that they are experiencing pauses in their breathing due to their airway collapsing. This is apnea. To picture this, did you ever drink a thick shake and the straw kept collapsing? The same thing happens when someone experiences sleep apnea. The tissue around their neck (the shake) collapses around their airway (the straw) when they try to inhale during sleep. When the airway collapses, air does not get in, when air doesn’t get in oxygen doesn’t get in. Oxygen levels in the body will decrease and the heart slows down sending a signal to the brain to arouse the body out of sleep (or in a lighter stage of sleep) to open up the airway and begin breathing. This is equivalent to getting poked in the shoulder. This process repeats itself over and over again throughout the night. We have patients who literally stop breathing up to 100 times an hour. Imagine getting poked in the shoulder 100 times an hour 7 nights a week 365 nights a year. No matter how long you sleep, you are forever tired throughout the day.

Combine the prospect of sleep apnea with REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep and you have the perfect recipe for dying in your sleep. When we sleep we go into different stages of sleep,  some light some deep, and then there is the stage of sleep where we dream, REM sleep. REM sleep occurs in 90 minute cycles. Each night a person will go through 4 to 5 REM cycles. Each cycle will be longer than the last. The first REM period is typically 5 to 15 minutes with last cycle lasting 30 to 45 minutes. It is during this last REM cycle where the complications from sleep apnea can become deadly. During REM sleep the muscle tone in our bodies in our body drops off. (Some say this is an evolutionary process to keep us from acting out our dreams.) When the muscle tone drops off the airway becomes more compromised making it harder for the brain to arouse the body out of an apnea event. Typical 15 to 20 second pauses in breathing now become 30, 40, 60 second events. (I have seen as long as 1min 45 sec.). As a result of these longer events, oxygen levels can decrease to 60% (on a 100% scale) while the heart rate significantly decreases. The good new is that the brain will typically arouse the person out of sleep pulling them back from the brink of death every night. The ones that aren’t so fortunate typically experience an irregular heartbeat; if the brain does not catch it in time it will lead to a heart attack while they sleep.

Billy Mays had the perfect body type of a person who suffers from sleep apnea, short neck, big shoulders and extra weight around the midsection. If you combine sleep apnea with his hectic schedule you might understand his need for something to keep him going. Because of his celebrity he probably had access to remedies that the general population would not have. Further evidence is that he had untreated hypertension and an enlarged heart. These are byproducts of living with sleep apnea year after year. The constant variability in a person’s heart rate due to sleep apnea is a main factor contributing to this.

Sleep apnea is easily treated by using a device called CPAP.  CPAP is an acronym for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. The device is about the size of a toaster which is connected to a hose which attaches to a nasal mask. The machine delivers positive pressure that fights against the negative pressure that sucks in the airway. It is a wonderful device that helps people who have lived in a sleep deprived haze for 5 to 10 years and literally changes their lives around over night.

Sleep apnea affects approximately 18 million Americans (as many as diabetes) while only 2 to 3 million are diagnosed and treated. People treated for sleep apnea will also see their high blood pressure improve. Diabetics have seen better management in their blood glucose levels. I have also seen it save marriages, improve productivity and rescue people out of depression.

In conclusion, if you find out Billy Mays died in the early morning hours and he snored, I will guarantee you he met the same fate as those people I mentioned in the beginning of this post.

Mark Stoiber, President

The Sleep Wellness Institute

If you love golf and you’re in the southern Wisconsin/northern Illinois area, you don’t want to miss the 3rd Annual Reggie White Sleep Disorders Foundation Golf Outing and Charity Auction on Sept. 22.

This great event will be held at the Hawks View Golf Club in Lake Geneva, WI, a five-star rated championship course that is meticulously maintained and offers a great day for golfers of all talent levels.

The cost is $700 per foursome, which includes use of the driving range, cart, 18 holes of golf, attendance at a free trick shot and long drive exhibition by former Green Bay Packer Bill Schroeder, lunch, hors d’ouevres, and an outstanding dinner.  And each foursome will be matched with a sports or local media celebrity for the day.

All proceeds from the event will benefit the Foundation’s Mission of providing diagnosis and treatment to sleep disorders sufferers whose socio-economic situation makes it impossible for them to access care otherwise.

For more information and registration, visit the event section of the Foundation’s website.

Out of all the news about famed TV pitchman Billy Mays’ death, one point hasn’t been revealed.  While we know that he died in his sleep, we don’t know when.  If he died somewhere between 3:00 and 4:00 in the morning, one has to wonder if he didn’t die in much the way that former football legend Reggie White did … complications of sleep apnea.  If he did, then it would be entirely consistent with what we’ve heard so far about heart problems.

So many people who die in their sleep of heart problems also have sleep apnea.  That is one reason why it is so important that people who snore at night and are exhausted during the day have a full evaluation by a sleep specialist.  38,000 Americans die every year from complications of sleep apnea.  It doesn’t need to be that way.

Steve Gardner

The Sleep Wellness Institute