Sleep is not just a "time out" from daily life. It is an active state essential for mental and physical restoration. More than 100 million Americans of all ages, however, regularly fail to get a good night's sleep.

At least 84 disorders of sleeping and waking interfere with quality of life and personal health, and endanger public safety because of their role in traffic and industrial accidents. These include problems with staying awake or staying with a regular sleep/wake cycle, sleepwalking, bedwetting, nightmares, insomnia, restless legs syndrome, snoring and sleep apnea syndrome. Some sleep disorders are potentially fatal.

The risks of undiagnosed obstructive sleep apnea include heart attacks, strokes, impotence, irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure and heart disease. In addition, obstructive sleep apnea causes daytime sleepiness that can result in accidents, lost productivity and interpersonal relationship problems. The severity of the symptoms may be mild, moderate or severe.

Perhaps the two most common sleeping disorders are sleep apnea and insomnia. Having sleep apnea means that you have periods of no breathing, sometimes as long as 30 seconds, when you are sleeping. This can happen many times during the night. It often interrupts your sleep and can prevent you from getting good-quality sleep. These episodes of no breathing cause you to get less oxygen and can sometimes have fatal complications, such as heart rhythm problems.

A person with insomnia has frequent trouble falling and/or staying asleep. Insomnia can be either a long-term or a short-term problem. Often insomnia lasts for just a few nights. If you cannot sleep almost every night for two weeks, you may need to seek treatment. Insomnia that lasts this long usually continues until the cause is identified and corrected.

Symptoms of insomnia and sleep apnea include being constantly fatigued, and frequently falling asleep during the day. When should you seek professional help? If your sleep has been disturbed for more than a month and interferes with the way you feel or function during the day, see your healthcare provider, or ask for a referral to the sleep laboratory at Mercy Medical Center - New Hampton.

At Mercy's Sleep Lab, a sleep test called polysomnography is done to diagnose your sleep disorder. You would sleep overnight in the lab with electrodes connected to your scalp. Your breathing, eye movements, muscle tone, blood oxygen levels, heart rate and rhythm, and brain waves would be recorded during sleep. The data would then be monitored and analyzed by the sleep lab technicians in Mason City via modern computer technology.

Most sleep disorders can be treated or managed effectively but only after the condition has been fully and accurately diagnosed. The sleep lab in New Hampton works with a neurologist to read and interpret the sleep reading. Test results and follow up care recommendations will be shared with the patient and referring physician.

For further information on the sleep lab at Mercy’s, contact Aaron Flugum at (641) 394-1616.