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Sleep Disorders Sleep and the Elderly

Where to Go When You Can't Get a Good Night's Sleep

Summary & Participants

A sleep center might be the best place to go to find out what's keeping you up at night.

Medically Reviewed On: August 07, 2008

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: We’ve all had problems getting a good night’s sleep, but if that’s your usual routine, a sleep center can help identify the causes.

Jack Horng, MD, Bon Secours Sleep Disorder Institute: A sleep disorder is not simply one identity.

ANNOUNCER: There are over 80 different types of recognized sleep disorders to consider.

Jack Horng, MD, Bon Secours Sleep Disorder Institute: Insomnia, sleep-disorder breathing, narcolepsy, REM behavior disorder, restless leg.

ANNOUNCER: People often think that being at a sleep center will just make their problems worse.

Jack Horng, MD, Bon Secours Sleep Disorder Institute: They say, well, if I’m having difficulty sleeping, how am I going to sleep in that environment with all the wires and all the things that's around? And that's why we say we try to strive for a facility or a center that actually will make it more like homelike, so it allows you to go to sleep

ANNOUNCER: Those wires and devices monitor information to provide insight into a variety of sleeping problems.

Jack Horng, MD, Bon Secours Sleep Disorder Institute: EKG leads monitor whether there is arrhythmia associated with any type of sleep-disordered breathing or any type of physiologic abnormality that may be affecting your heart. EEG leads measuring brain waves to see if you're in awake state or in light sleep or in deep sleep.

Technician: It's like taking a camera and looking at the electrical activity of the brain from different positions.

Jack Horng, MD, Bon Secours Sleep Disorder Institute: We have measuring in terms of nasal flow. We have EMG of the legs to look for periodic limb movements, because that sometimes can cause sleep disruption

ANNOUNCER: After a night’s testing, the information is evaluated.

Jack Horng, MD, Bon Secours Sleep Disorder Institute: We're looking at a timeline, a whole cycle of sleep from non-rem to rem and are you having the right pattern?

ANNOUNCER: According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, more than 70 million Americans suffer from sleep disorders of one kind or another. So if you have sleep issues, talk to your doctor and see if a visit to a sleep center is for you.

Jack Horng, MD, Bon Secours Sleep Disorder Institute: Without patients and public realizing that they need to seek appropriate physician for help, they can be in the dark.

ANNOUNCER: Thanks for joining us on today’s Once Daily!