Author Archives Kristin

For individuals with celiac disease, gluten can be like a curse word to the body. Celiacs need to stay clear of gluten because their bodies cannot properly digest this protein, which is found primarily in wheat, but also rye and barley. In addition, organs of the digestive tract of people with this disease are under […]

The sun is shining and the sky is blue. Keeping the top down on your convertible is a foregone conclusion. But wait, your palms become clammy, your heart starts to race, you can’t quite catch your breath and you have a sense of unexplainable danger. What is wrong? You might have just experienced a panic […]

We all know how important it is to get a good night of sleep. Tossing and turning during the night can impact how we feel in terms of energy and mood the next morning or even the following day. Unfortunately, if you have a chronic condition, especially one that causes gastrointestinal distress, you may wake […]

Adults are not the only individuals who experience episodes where breathing pauses occur during sleep. It can actually happen quite often in premature babies, and is known as apnea of prematurity. The good news is that this condition usually resolves on its own by the 36th week. When a baby is born prematurely, the brain […]

Of course, we all know that breathing is essential for life. And so is sleep. When there are issues with breathing and sleeping, life can be adversely affected. Unfortunately, problems with both of these physiological functions is fairly common. In fact, there are quite a number of sleep-related breathing disorders. Sleep-related Breathing Disorders Defined As far […]

One mans testimony about how a Thanksgiving tradition saved his life. John S. was sitting in the “dad chair” after a great Thanksgiving meal. The whole family was gathering to watch the afternoon gridiron when a shallow roar began to emerge from John. The kids’ look over at dad, he had done it again; he […]

In years past a primary care physician would diagnose sleep apnea sufferers with an overnight sleep test called a Nocturnal polysomnography. This type of sleep test is administered by a sleep lab to monitor your heart, lungs and brain activity, breathing patterns, arm and leg movements, and blood oxygen levels while you sleep. As the […]

You are 4 times more likely to catch a cold with inadequate sleep With the cold and flu season coming soon, we thought it was important for everyone to know about a new study concerning short sleep and susceptibility to illness. UC San Francisco sleep researcher Dr. Aric Prather and a team of researchers from […]

About 90 million Americans suffer from snoring activity during sleep. Roughly fifty percent of these people are primary snorers (a snorer without Sleep Apnea), the other half may have a serious sleep disorder called Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). While OSA will almost always leads to loud and frequent snoring, snoring does not always indicate OSA. […]

In the United States today, over 24 million adults are impaired with less than optimal lung function. Number one cause is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It is estimated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that 12.7 million Americans have COPD, which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. What then causes COPD to […]

Do you have trouble staying awake during the day? Do you find yourself falling asleep at various times of the day? Doesn’t matter how many hours of sleep you are able to grab, these problems still occur. If this describes you or someone you know, you might be suffering from a condition known as hypersomnia. […]

Snoring can be a mere annoyance, or it can be a warning sign of a common sleep disorder known as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) that can have serious health consequences. Snoring occurs when the flow of air from the mouth or nose to your lungs makes the tissues of the airway vibrate. This is caused […]

All your friends used to tease you. Why? Back in the day, you had the best sense of taste and smell out of everyone you knew. Their goal in life was to fool you. Your legendary taste buds could decipher the difference between a Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa and one from Bordeaux. And your nose […]

At many workplaces it is still taboo to take a nap during the workday; but evidence proves that napping not only will boost your cognitive and memory functions, but enhance efficiency too. For several years now cutting edge companies like Google, HubSpot and the Huffington Post have been using napping pods to help refresh employees. […]

The trucking industry was the first to implement legislation for sleep apnea sufferers within the transportation communities. The aviation and locomotion industries followed suit after sleep apnea related accidents caused loss of life in those industries as well. It took awhile, for the transportation community to understand what this could mean for their companies. A […]

At Sleep Apnea Treatment Centers of America (SATCOA) we use an innovative treatment option called RadioFrequency Ablation of the Tongue (RFA). RFA is an in-office Sleep Apnea treatment that takes only a few minutes to complete. For years, Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) therapy has been recognized as the gold standard of treatment for sleep […]

As more studies look at the connection between Coronary conditions and Sleep Apnea, we find evidence that sleep apnea treatment can greatly reduce risks for coronary complications. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common type of arrhythmia. An arrhythmia is a problem with the rate or rhythm of the heartbeat. During an arrhythmia, the heart […]

After snoring for more years than you are willing to admit, you finally sought out a diagnosis and treatment. Verdict, as you suspected all along, was obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which basically means that you stop breathing a number of times during the night. The disease is caused by an obstruction in your airway and […]

Disrupted sleep may be one of the missing pieces in explaining how a sticky protein called beta-amyloid, starts its damage long before people have trouble with memory as it turns into Alzheimer’s, researchers reported Monday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference. “It’s very clear that sleep disruption is an under appreciated factor,” said Dr. Matthew […]

A resent study created by BMC Geriatrics was looking for the correlation between Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS) and the amount of falls an elderly person has. EDS is a change in quality and quantity of nocturnal sleep or other underlying conditions, such as obstructive sleep apnea. Falls were defined as an instance ‘when you suddenly […]

You have just finished dinner and sat down in your favorite chair to watch TV. Your family files in to watch and before you know it, someone is waking you up because you have been snoring. It’s common enough, you had a hard day; but how often does it really happen? You have likely heard […]

In the past, when a nurse asks you questions about your health sleep has rarely been a topic of discussion. This is beginning to change as we find out how closely tied sleep is to your overall health. Proper sleep helps your brain function properly keeps you more attentive and helps you learn more quickly. […]

A study presented at the National Lipid Association Scientific Sessions evaluated 928 patients at sleep clinics, with a median follow-up of 9 months. The study was testing for the occurrence of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) from a collection of patients having a range of sleep problems. Overall, 80.1% of patients had obstructive sleep apnea and […]

The American Thoracic Society (ATS) provided a review of the current scientific literature to assist health care providers, especially pulmonologists and sleep physicians, in making recommendations to patients and the general public about the importance of achieving good quality and adequate quantity of sleep. ATS members were invited, based on their expertise in sleep medicine, […]

It has been known that there is a connection between Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). A study was reported from the Tucson Children’s Assessment a few years ago consisted of 263 children over the course of a five-year period with the help of parental rating scales. Researchers reported that children […]

Recently a study came out of Brazil showing that a few simple tongue exercises can reduce your sleep apnea symptoms. Participants in the study showed a 39% lessening in sleep apnea symptoms over the control group. This is by no means a cure for sleep apnea, but can aid in lessening your symptoms. Always consult […]

The Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) has been the gold standard of sleep apnea treatment for many years. There are a few advantages to the CPAP, it is non-invasive, daytime sleepiness improves or resolves, heart function and hypertension improve and quality of life improves. Around fifty percent of the people who use the CPAP are […]

You have been diagnosed with sleep apnea and are now wondering which treatment options are for you. You physician will present you several treatment methods depending on the reason for your sleep apnea or severity of your sleep apnea. Whatever your diagnosis, we would like you to know all the sleep apnea treatment options available to […]

Understanding the sleep apnea condition is one of the fundamental issues facing America today. Nearly 50 percent of sleep apnea sufferers are unaware that their condition is life threatening. It is estimated that 80 percent of sleep apnea sufferers are completely unaware that they even have the condition. This is why physicians are pushing for […]

For many years now you have been visiting your physician for a regular health screening. Your physician has been checking you over for symptoms of the most common diseases such as: Overweight and obesity Diabetes High blood pressure High cholesterol Osteoporosis Colon conditions Prostate cancer in men Breast cancer and cervical cancer in women Now […]

As Baby Boom Generation Ages Sleep Related Health Issues Costing Billions The number of United States patients suffering with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is approximately 22 million people, according to the American Sleep Association. The prevalence of OSA is twice as high in patients aged older than 60 years-of-age, and OSA-related costs will continue to […]

Let’s be honest with one another. When it comes to the avoidance of things we don’t particularly like to do, we come up with all kinds of excuses. It doesn’t matter if we have the knowledge and know full well that something is good for us. We stop and don’t go. Instead of exercising, we […]

Pitching a tent and being one with nature are some of your favorite activities to enjoy in your downtime for pleasure. You have hiked and camped out in some of the most popular, tried and true locations. But still on your bucket list are sleeping under the sandstone arches in the Utah national park, heading […]

It almost seems like a rite of passage: The Freshman 15. Packing on those additional 15 pounds of weight shortly after the fall semester starts your first year in college. No one is cooking meals or packing lunch, and junk food is another food group on the Food Pyramid. However, tipping the scales in the […]

Robbery is not an activity that should be promoted but let’s face it: Thieves need to be silent in order to be able to steal. Silence and quiet are important to avoid detection. And hence that is why glaucoma is often said to be the silent thief of sight because 50 percent of those affected […]

It has been weeks since Diane seemed like her normal self. Gone are the days when she actively helped her children with their homework. When she talks, Diane rambles on or doesn’t make sense. The mother of four has a short attention span, her moods are like a roller coaster and she constantly has morning […]

At the time, you thought it was so great that you would finally be able to cross going on an African safari off your bucket list. Zebras, elephants, gazelles wandered up to your jeep and your accommodations at night quite literally allowed you to sleep in the treetops. But unfortunately, what came after the trip […]

When our head hits the pillow at night, we are open to the possibility of dreaming. But this isn’t the only activity occurring while we slumber. At night, studies have shown that sleep can improve memory and learning. Strange but true. While you sleep, there is an opportunity to remember to take out the garbage […]

Wakening up this morning was more difficult than normal. Why? Pretty obvious when you slammed your hand down on the alarm’s snooze button, which sent the entire clock flying across the bedroom. You were extremely angry that the morning arrived so quickly. And then to make matters worse and despite the fact that you fell […]

For many pet owners, the four-legged friends that live with humans can seem more like family than animals. For some, Daisy is not a Poodle but a daughter and Smokey is not an all-black Persian but a son. If you consider your pets as part of the household, then shouldn’t they participate in family activities […]

How would you answer the following questions: Are you what you eat? Are you thin or overweight because of the food choices that you make? Do you have energy to go out in order to tackle everything and anything? Or are you a lump on a log, and just sit in front of the boob […]

Getting on an elevator makes your heart race. The thought of needing an MRI to evaluate your torn ACL makes your non-injured leg quake. You have had claustrophobia your whole life. And now, learning that you have sleep apnea and need continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) to treat this condition, has sent you into a […]

Although he was able to demand that Pharaoh let his people go, Moshe did so with a speech impediment believed to be a stutter. The man who went on to part the Red Sea was not alone in his “slow and hesitant” speech. England’s King George VI suffered greatly with the embarrassment of being a […]

Back in the day, Pat and Joyce had a great and intimate sex life. But that was before kids, demanding work and life responsibilities. Over the last couple of months, they have tried to rekindle the flame with romantic date nights, get-away weekends. But the couple keep fizzling out and not igniting a spark at […]

As you know we spend about 1/3 of our lives asleep. We just wanted to point out why we should be thankful for that. Once you have drifted into an unconscious state a number of functions happen to grow and restore your body to the peak mental, emotional, and physical condition. Once we approach the […]

Dreams. When we think about or have to describe them, dreams are very vivid and in most cases in full Technicolor. Just reflect back to when you first saw the classic movie, “The Wizard of Oz,” and the difference between the black, white and shades of grey that depicted Kansas. And then ponder your thoughts […]