Sleep disorders becoming an 'epidemic'
Sleep, one of the most private activities for most people, is suddenly the center of a lot of public attention.
The number of people who can't fall asleep or who wake up frequently while sleeping is growing, experts say, and so are the numbers of physicians and sleep centers diagnosing and treating their problems.
"It's what I would call an epidemic," said Dr. Pamela Baines, an otolaryngolist in Tampa.
And Dr. Juan Cevallos, a pulmonologist and critical care physician at Florida Medical Clinic, is seeing a wider variety of patients.
"When we started seeing patients in the 1970s, we thought it was mostly a disease of the obese, and there were more males than females, about 3-to-1," said Cevallos. With more media attention, that's changing. "Snoring is no longer something that is funny or accepted, but there is an understanding that this carries a health risk. We're now seeing a tremendous increase in young, thin males and females."
Nationally, 40 million Americans suffer from sleep disorders, according to the National Sleep Foundation in Washington, D.C. The direct and indirect costs associated with sleep disorders and sleep deprivation total an estimated $100 billion annual, the foundation says.
Lack of awareness
There are 84 separate types of sleep disorders, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine in Chicago. Cevallos focuses on two categories. They are the inability to fall asleep, which is insomnia, and problems maintaining sleep, such as sleep apnea, which is characterized by brief cessations in breathing during sleep.
He treats insomnia when it affects a patient's daytime functioning but considers sleep apnea more serious.
The most frequent symptom of sleep apnea is loud snoring. It's often associated with obesity and might contribute to obesity because chronic loss of sleep can affect some of the hormones that regulate weight, said Andrea Gelzer, senior VP at Philadelphia-based Cigna (NYSE: CI).
Excessive daytime sleepiness is another problem associated with sleep apnea.
"That may be a safety issue and may contribute to presenteeism," Gelzer said. "Employers are concerned that people at work are not as productive as they can be."
Untreated sleep apnea also can lead to an increased risk of heart disease, stroke and other respiratory conditions, said Dr. Robert Kropp, senior medical director of the southeast region for Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna (NYSE: AET). Cevallos said he's seen studies linking sleep apnea with depression, hyperactivity in children, erectile dysfunction in men and possibly diabetes.
