Literally, sleep medicine deals with the clinical problems of disturbed sleep. Since the first truly clinical sleep disorders centers and laboratories were developed in the late ‘60’s’ and early 70’s, over three hundred sleep disorder diagnoses have been identified and codified. This incredible explosion of information and direct application to the diagnosis and treatment of patients has lead to the establishment of this specialty of medicine. At the same time a parallel development in technology has allowed us to more easily and accurately study the processes of sleep and apply it to the problems that patients present.
Recognition of these problems is now accepted as an important part of the overall treatment and health of patients. Not only do sleep disorders affect other medical problems, but they have a strong impact on the cost of medical care. As an example, Undiagnosed or untreated sleep apnea my double the money spent on healthcare. New information shows that some undiagnosed or untreated sleep disorders may have a life or death impact.
In any give sleep laboratory, the most common diagnosis that leads to a sleep study is sleep apnea. Sleep apnea results in the obstruction of the upper airway when the patient falls asleep. Breathing can resume only on arousal from sleep. As a result of frequent arousals over the night’s sleep, normal sleep is fragmented and inefficient. The appropriate amounts of essential stages of sleep cannot be achieved and sleep deprivation occurs.
There are many other dramatic and colorful, even bizarre problems that occur with sleep. Fortunately, most if not all can be diagnosed and usually treated successfully. While there are a few sleep disorders that are definitely life threatening, most of these disorders affect the quality of one’s life. Certainly, a good night’s sleep helps us all to feel and function at our peak.
Posted by kfayle at June 7, 2004 09:06 PM