Improve Sleep Quality with the Help of Cameron’s Respiratory Therapy & Sleep Center

With busy schedules, the importance of sleep is often overlooked. Here at Cameron, our respiratory and sleep technologists help you prioritize the quality and duration of your sleep. From your mood and mental health to overall well-being, a good night’s rest has an impact on many aspects of life.

Tammy Monahan, a registered respiratory therapist at Cameron, says a good night’s sleep should leave you feeling refreshed, alert, and ready to begin the day. A person can tell if they have healthy sleep patterns if it’s easy to fall asleep and stay asleep. This also means it shouldn’t be hard to wake up in the morning.

Common Sleep Disorders

Individuals who don’t receive an adequate amount of sleep throughout the night experience sleep deprivation. Stress and other circumstances you experience in day-to-day life can interrupt sleep and contribute to sleep deprivation. Hallmark signs of sleep deprivation include slowed thinking, a reduced attention span, and worsened memory. Other signs include poor decision-making, mood changes, and lack of energy, as well as general feelings of stress, anxiety, and irritability.

Another common sleep disorder is insomnia, which is experienced when it’s hard to get to sleep or stay asleep throughout the night. Other disorders include sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, and narcolepsy. Obstructive sleep apnea is a disorder in which you lose the ability to breathe freely in your sleep or experience sleep hypoventilation, a pattern in which breathing becomes slow or too shallow, leading to higher carbon dioxide and lower oxygen levels in the blood. Finally, Bruxism is a common sleep disorder that causes people to grind or clench their teeth.

Best Practices for Sleep

Cameron follows the recommendation of the National Sleep Foundation for the amount of sleep individuals should get each night. They recommend seven to nine hours of sleep per night for adults. For babies, young children, and teens, nine to 10 hours is ideal to ensure healthy growth and development.

Reaching those numbers can be hard. We suggest setting a specific bedtime to closely track your sleep. Other helpful habits include avoiding electronics right before bed, having a light snack or bedtime tea, taking a warm bath, stretching, meditating, or practicing breathing exercises before bed. While in bed, you can also try listening to music or reading a book to help your mind relax. Make sure your room is quiet, cool, and dark.

Cameron Sleep Center Tests

A home sleep test (HST) is an easy, cost-effective way to figure out whether you’re having trouble breathing while sleeping. A home sleep apnea test is a typical type of HST that involves using a simple breathing monitor that tracks your breathing and oxygen levels when you’re sleeping. While HSTs don’t capture as much data as an in-lab overnight sleep study, they can still be effective tools.

The Cameron Sleep Center offers free screening for sleep apnea. You can call 260-667-5571 to arrange a time to pick up a monitor. You wear the device overnight and can get results shortly after returning the monitor.

An in-lab overnight sleep study provides a more thorough assessment of sleep issues. These studies monitor signals including brainwaves for sleep, muscle tone, and leg movements. For people with certain heart, breathing, or neuromuscular problems, overnight sleep studies at a sleep center are often the best solution to identify potential issues. Cameron has overnight testing Monday through Thursday during the week but can adjust to accommodate patients’ schedules and sleep routines.

Other tests include:

• A polysomnogram (PSG) is a diagnostic study used to establish if a patient has sleep apnea.
• CPAP titration study is the treatment study to stop apnea events during sleep. CPAP stands for continuous positive airway pressure therapy. During the study, a sleep technologist adjusts the pressure from the machine to determine the optimal treatment for when you return home.
• Split night testing involves both a PSG and CPAP titration study in a single night. Through this approach, we aim to collect enough information in the first two hours of the study to have enough treatment time.
• A multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT) is a series of naps following an overnight sleep study to determine narcolepsy or excessive daytime sleepiness with sleep apnea.

There are many reasons that could warrant a sleep test. If you routinely experience brain fog or have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or snoring, you’ll likely benefit from a sleep study. If you are experiencing any sleeping or breathing concerns, we encourage you to call 260-667-5571 or visit our webpage about respiratory therapy and the Cameron Sleep Center.