The Sleep Wellness Center at Wise Health System may be able to help you answer that question. We can help diagnose a wide variety of sleep disorders, helping you get the sleep you need to lead a healthy, productive life.
What is a Sleep Disorder?
A sleep disorder is a medical condition that affects sleep patterns and can interfere with normal physical, mental and emotional functioning. Some of the more common sleep disorders are:
- Insomniais characterized by difficulty falling and/or staying asleep.
- Narcolepsy causes overwhelming and severe daytime sleepiness that often occurs at inappropriate times and places.
- Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) produces intense, often irresistible urges to move the legs, usually when trying to sleep or a “tingling sensation” when a person lies down to sleep.
- Sleep Apnea involves brief periods during sleep when a person stops breathing, often for up to a minute and can occur 20-30 times or more in an hour.
Who is a Sleep Study Candidate?
If you suffer from any of the following symptoms, you may have a sleep disorder that can be diagnosed and treated by Sleep Specialties:
- Loud, disruptive snoring
- Pauses in breathing during sleep
- Excessive daytime sleepiness
- Frequent kicking or jerking during sleep
- Waking frequently during the night
- Headache and/or fatigue in the mornings
- Sleep walking, sleep talking
- Nightmares
Individuals suffering from obesity, heart or respiratory diseases, depression, and muscular diseases may also be at an increased risk for experiencing sleep disorders.
Sleeping is a complex process and greatly influences our waking hours. Without enough sleep, a person’s ability to perform even the simplest of tasks declines dramatically. Each year sleep-related accidents cause death, injury, lost productivity and cost billions of dollars in health care and damaged property.
How do I Get the Test Results?
Following the sleep study, a detailed report with test interpretations and recommendations will be submitted to your physician. He/she will review your results with you. Consultation referrals for pulmonary, neurology or psychiatry are available upon request.
What are the Risks of a Sleep Study?
It may feel odd to be hooked up to the sleep study equipment and your skin may be red or itchy from the electrodes, but you won’t have any pain from these tests and there are no other risks associated with sleep studies.