says Dr. Randall Suen, medical director of the Sleep
Disorders Center in Port St. Lucie and Vero Beach. Studies
show a relationship between sleep apnea and heart problems,
stroke and hypertension. And health considerations
aside, untreated sleep apnea causes at least 500,000 motor
vehicles crashes each year.
Patients who are referred to the Sleep Disorder Center
meet with Suen, who determines possible causes. If needed,
they spend the night in the clinic, where they are hooked up
to machines that monitor their oxygen levels, brain waves,
chest and leg movement and other activity.
In addition, Suen offers advice on sleep hygiene, common
sense solutions to many sleep problems. Other recommendations
depend on diagnosis and may include referral to
another physician, prescription medication and counseling.
If you’re often fatigued and find it hard to concentrate, feel
sleepy in the morning or take frequent naps, you may have a
sleep disorder. Treating it may change your life, like it did for
retired clothing manufacturer George Rodriguez, who at 65,
took two naps a day and was always tired.
During a brief hospital stay for an unrelated problem,
nurses noticed George’s severe sleep apnea and his doctors
referred him to a sleep clinic. “They told me I was waking up
360 times a night gasping for air, “ says the transplanted
New Yorker. “Bada bing, bada boom- they gave me some different
masks to try, hooked me up to a machine, now, I’m a
new man!”
“It slips up on you, these changes in your life. No one
gives you a blueprint of what to expect. Your body adjusts to
things and you think, well, this must be normal. You don’t
know the difference until someone tells you there’s a problem.”
“It shouldn’t be a struggle to get up in the morning every
day,” Suen cautions. “And it shouldn’t take more than 15-20
minutes to go to sleep at night. That’s a clear sign that something
is wrong.”
GOOD SLEEP HYGIENE
• Keep a regular schedule. Go to bed and wake up
at the same time each day.
• Create a soothing bedtime routine. Ease your mind into
sleep by reading, relaxing, taking a warm bath.
• Use your bedroom for sleep. Don’t work
or problem-solve in bed.
• Limit your time in bed. If you don’t go to sleep
in 15-20 minutes, get out of bed until you feel drowsy.
Limit naps to 30-60 minutes and nap only for alertness.
• Create your ideal sleep environment:
dark, cool and quiet.
• Avoid heavy meals, caffeine and
nicotine in the hours before sleep.
• Avoid alcohol, which can help you fall asleep,
but disrupt sleep later in the night.
• Daily exercise may help you sleep but finish exercising
at least three hours before bed.
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SLEEP
TREASURE COAST MEDICAL REPORT