Sleep Technology

This blog is based off of the AAST 2019 Annual Meeting Session "Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Stroke: Evidence, Mechanisms, and Treatment Strategies." For more information on this session and other session recordings click here. Ischemic stroke (or acute stroke) is the second leading cause of long-term disability. Many who suffer from ischemic stroke also have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Currently, ischemic stroke treatment therapies have a very limited therapeutic window and aren’t widely applicable to most patients. The treatment of OSA in patients with acute ischemic stroke is now being looked to as a novel, therapeutic approach to preventing stroke.

Fall marks the beginning of another year’s end. Why not finish 2019 on a positive note by cultivating new professional skills? With a long history of helping sleep-care professionals navigate the field, AAST offers a variety of products to help get the job done. These top-notch courses can help you expand your knowledge or brush up on skills for kicking off 2020 just right.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) can severely affect your sleep and your health, but do you know the toll it can take on society?

This year, AAST is offering a CCSH workshop on Sept. 6 before the 2019 Annual Conference. This program is designed for advanced level health professionals and educators who work directly with sleep medicine patients, families and practitioners to coordinate and manage patient care, improve outcomes and educate the community of the importance of good sleep health. At the end of this workshop, and upon completion of an online exam, RPSGT credential holders who have recertified at least once will quality to sit for the CCSH credential examination through BRPT’s newly created pathway.

Lean manufacturing originated in Japan, where Toyota developed the Toyota Production System as a way to organize its manufacturing and logistics. Since then, many other organizations have adopted the Toyota Way, including sleep centers. While those who work in sleep centers aren’t making cars, the concepts are applicable and useful.

Dr. Frank Scheer is a professor at Harvard Medical School and the director of the Medical Chronobiology Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is also the keynote speaker for AAST’s 2019 Annual Meeting. Specializing in the difference between day/night rhythms and endogenous circadian rhythms, Scheer is interested in how the circadian system can influence things like energy balance and cardiovascular risk factors.

For a child, a sleep schedule is everything.

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.’”

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?

Technology has allowed us to link with people all around the world. From connecting with friends and family abroad to discovering new cultures while sitting in the comfort of our own home, access to the internet has transformed the way we communicate.