Forgetting why you walked into a room or opened a cabinet is OK when it happens occasionally. But for Cindy Pond of Guilford, it was happening constantly.
Worried that her memory lapses might affect her job as a nurse at Connecticut Hospice in Branford, she began triple- and quadruple-checking doctor’s orders and kept sticky notes lists “everywhere.”
“I would sleep from 8 to 8, but still wake up exhausted,” said Pond, 53. “I lost a tremendous amount of time at work last year, because I just felt miserable all the time. Concentrating was hard. In fact, it was so difficult for me to stay focused on anything at work or home that my doctor thought I might have had a stroke.”
What Pond was diagnosed with, however, was sleep apnea — a condition that puts people at increased risk for serious health conditions like heart attack and diabetes.
As the condition has become more well known, it also triggered a sharp increase in sleep centers in Connecticut and throughout the country.
Hospital-based and freestanding sleep centers have, in fact, increased a whopping 400 percent over the past 10 years, according to the Journal of the American College of Chest Physicians.
Connecticut has 27 sleep centers accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), which sets practice standards for this medical subspecialty. Focused on providing tests and treatments for apnea, insomnia, narcolepsy, restless leg syndrome and other common sleep problems, roughly two-thirds of these centers are run by, and based in, hospitals. But as public awareness about the dangers of sleep disorders like apnea has increased, so have the number of free-standing, independently-owned facilities.
“Scientists have made us come to realize that sleep is central to overall good health and how our bodies function,” said Neelam Gupta, managing director of the Sleep Disorders Center of Connecticut, a statewide chain that started with a clinic with two “nocturnal polysomnogram” (sleep study) bedrooms in Hamden in 2007. In ’09 and ’10, it opened similar facilities in Guilford and Milford. “The trend in medicine today is to not just treat individual symptoms, but the whole person. And as the evidence of how poor sleep contributes to health problems like diabetes and heart disease grows, so does our business.”
The chain is doing so well, Gupta said — “We fill our beds and conduct sleep studies seven nights a week” — adding the group is looking to open a fourth site in Fairfield County later this year.
Seeing a similar demand is the Hospital of Central Connecticut’s Sleep Disorders Center, said Helayne Lightstone, the hospital’s corporate communications director. The center, based at the hospital’s main New Britain campus, opened a second office in May in Southington.
The Hartford Hospital Sleep Disorder Center averages 100 overnight sleep studies a month. However, as the evidence of the dangers of sleep disorders continues to grow, so does the demand for additional beds and centers, experts say.
A recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control report that highlighted “drowsy driving” as the reason for more than 1,600 fatal accidents last year has trucking and air traffic control industry leaders, among others, considering making sleep disorder testing a job requirement.
“What happens when a truck driver, school bus driver, construction worker or air traffic controller dozes off and falls asleep at work, or can’t concentrate,” Gupta asked. “It’s not just them who can get hurt. It’s countless other people, as well. Although there are no laws out there yet, several industries are considering making sleep apnea screenings mandatory for people who work with dangerous equipment or spend days or nights behind the wheel. So we expect business will only grow.”
Opening a sleep center, however, requires more than blankets and pillows. The state Department of Public Health and AASM require a center to not just be a properly licensed healthcare facility, but have at least one private, single occupancy testing bedroom; one bathroom for every three test rooms; a certified and licensed polysomnographic technologist to monitor and record overnight and daytime exams; and at least one physician board certified in sleep medicine to oversee patients and overall care.
Yet non-clinical providers are also profiting. Case in point: four-year-old Sleep Solutions in Newington, which leases and sells the continuous positive airway pressure and bi-level positive airway pressure machines (more commonly known as CPAC and BiPAP machines) used to treat sleep apnea.
Sleep Solutions co-owner Sloane Bellante said she’s seen business increase at least 20 percent this past year, along with an increase in health insurance companies paying for CPAC or BiPAP devices.
“Since apnea is something a lot of people are talking about now, we’re getting a lot of business by word of mouth,” Bellante said. “Dr. Oz and news reports tell us that obesity, neck size, family history, and alcohol use are all risk factors, but apnea doesn’t discriminate. Skinny people who don’t drink develop apnea, too. That’s why people need to educate themselves.”
And spread the word, Pond added.
“Since I started using the CPAP machine, I feel good physically and mentally,” the grandmother of three said. “My body doesn’t hurt, my head is clear and I can remember things. I feel great. Getting the sleep test and help I needed really has been life changing.”
How does a sleep center diagnose the problem?
Fragmented sleep, loud snoring, debilitating daytime fatigue, low oxygen levels, missed work days, morning headaches and problems remembering and concentrating are among the symptoms of sleep apnea, the most common sleep disorder.
More than 18 million Americans suffer from the condition.
One of the first steps is generally to undergo an overnight evaluation, or “nocturnal polysomnogram.”
Patients spend one night in a special laboratory/bedroom hooked up to sophisticated computer equipment that monitors heart, lung and brain activity; breathing patterns; arm and leg movements; and blood oxygen levels. The room generally includes soft lighting; a comfortable bed; a quiet, calming atmosphere; television; and other amenities to help the patient sleep.
In some cases, a portable home monitoring device can also be used to track heart rate, blood oxygen level, airflow and breathing patterns. Unfortunately, however, it does not always provide the most effective readings. An overnight, in-center polysomnogram may still be needed.
