Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a trauma and stress-related disorder characterized by re-experiencing, avoidance, hyperarousal and negative alterations in cognition or mood. Events that involve threat to integrity of self or others such as rape, physical assault, natural disasters and combat exposure are commonly associated with the development of PTSD.1 The lifetime prevalence of PTSD among adults in the United States ranges from 6-10%, with women being more than twice as likely to have PTSD at some point. Significantly higher estimates have been reported in combat veterans (15-30%). Rates of PTSD in veterans are higher if they were stationed in combat zones, had tours of longer than one year, experienced combat or were injured. Specifically, among veterans with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, 31-86% report multiple traumatic combat exposures and 11-20% endorse significant PTSD symptoms.
I first learned about this author through a really helpful episode of Sleep Talk, a podcast produced and aired last February by Drs. Moira Junge and David Cunningham. The focus of that episode was sleeping pills, and author Dr. Wallace Mendelson gave a fascinating historical play-by-play of the rise of hypnotics, sedatives and other sleep-inducing agents. It’s worth listening to if you’re still intimidated by this wide category of pharmaceutical sleep aids.
Daniel Erichsen, MD, saw it time and time again. Patients would come into his sleep clinic in Oregon complaining of insomnia, and he would tell them the same thing: If you don’t try to sleep, eventually you will. But they weren’t always listening. “I got frustrated with just saying the same thing over and over,” Erichsen says. “I thought, ‘There’s got to be a better way I can communicate with a lot of people at once.’”
While You Were Sleeping: What Sleep Technologists Need to Know This Week Your media watchdog for headlines and trends relevant to sleep technology and patient education.
While You Were Sleeping: What Sleep Technologists Need to Know This Week IMAGE: "Frog sleeping with Sky Lover" (admittedly not a professional photo, but I loved capturing this unintended photobomber yesterday on my front porch while trying to capture these new blue pimpernel blossoms—TKS) Your media watchdog for headlines and trends relevant to sleep technology and patient education.
While You Were Sleeping: What Sleep Technologists Need to Know This Week Your media watchdog for headlines and trends relevant to sleep technology and patient education.
Sleep Disorders | Sleep Medicine | sleep disorder breathing and children | Research
The neurocognitive disorder Alzheimer’s disease affects an estimated 5 million Americans. Its prevalence is expected to triple by 2060. People affected by Alzheimer’s disease have increasing problems with memory, judgement and doing daily tasks of living as the disease progresses. Various studies have indicated that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and that people with OSA have increased levels of certain biomarkers (e.g., amyloid beta protein) associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists have recently noted increased levels of biomarkers associated with Alzheimer’s disease in young children with OSA.
While You Were Sleeping: What Sleep Technologists Need to Know This Week Your media watchdog for headlines and trends relevant to sleep technology and patient education.
Credentials are a great thing to have. Not only do they signal to others what kind of specializations you have, they also display how hard you’ve worked in your career. It's commonplace for people to include their credentials on a variety of things — email signatures, business cards, name placards — but are you displaying them correctly?
While You Were Sleeping: What Sleep Technologists Need to Know This Week Your media watchdog for headlines and trends relevant to sleep technology and patient education.
