Get the Sleep You Need

Get the Sleep You Need

With Peter Freebeck, MD, director of the Adventist Midwest Health Sleep Disorders Center (pictured left)

Consistently not getting a good night’s rest has more side effects than needing to drink an extra cup of coffee at work. It’s a powerful reflection of overall health.

Not only can certain health issues – such as chronic pain syndrome – affect one’s ability to sleep well, insufficient sleep may worsen the health conditions that caused it, creating a vicious cycle that is difficult to break. Moreover, particular types of sleep disorders might even predict future health risks.

“Health-related sleep issues can feed off themselves,” says Peter Freebeck, MD, director of the Adventist Midwest Health Sleep Disorders Center. “How you sleep – or don’t sleep – is just as important as diet, exercise and how you manage your cholesterol.”

For instance, studies show obstructive sleep apnea is a direct cause of coronary artery disease. In addition, people with a history of strokes, those who had a recent stoke and up to 80 percent of individuals with congestive heart failure experience either central or obstructive sleep apnea. This is life threatening, abnormal breathing pattern occurring only during sleep, which, in turn, exacerbates the heart failure. Snoring, a hallmark of obstructive sleep apnea, is often absent with the central apniec episodes.

“In central sleep apnea, the brain isn’t even triggering the breathing mechanisms to work,” Dr. Freebeck says. “And people with hypothyroidism may experience hypoventilation syndrome, where they do not breathe as deeply as they should.”

Restless legs syndrome can interfere with falling asleep or staying asleep due to an unpleasant “crawling” sensation in the limbs. The syndrome is prevalent in people who have anemia, hyperthyroidism and diabetes.

“Also, when blood sugar is very high or very low, you tend to sleep more lightly and restlessly,” Dr. Freebeck says.

Less commonly known than sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome, REM sleep behavior disorder is characterized with such actions as yelling, hitting and kicking. There is often no discernable cause for this disorder, but it can occur with Parkinson’s disease or even be the symptom that precedes it. “Sometimes we identify this disorder in a patient and three to five years later, they develop Parkinson’s,” Dr. Freebeck says.

Even weight control becomes difficult when sleep disorders go unrecognized, since they disrupt the cyclic pattern of cortisol, the levels of which rise and fall during a 24-hour period. This disruption adversely affects metabolism.

Finally, Dr. Freebeck urges people with uncontrolled diabetes and hypertension to schedule an appointment with a sleep specialist, because these are two diseases that resist treatment when a sleep disorder is present. With proper care, patients may reduce or even eliminate some of their medication.

“The people who say, ‘I can sleep anywhere; I don’t need a sleep doctor,’ are usually the ones who do,” Dr. Freebeck says.

Adventist Midwest Health is dedicated to improving the quality of life for our patients, with comprehensive insomnia, narcolepsy and sleep apnea treatments. Through diagnosis and sleep disorder treatment at our Chicago-area hospital locations, patients can achieve the sleep they need to feel rested and awake. We recognize that an undiagnosed sleep disorder, with no treatment, can aggravate or lead to serious health problems. Visit our Web site to find a sleep center near you.