Millions of Americans suffer from some type of sleep disorder. If you are falling asleep at work, at the movies, or behind the wheel, we can help you. If you wake with frequent morning headaches, we can help you. If you are frequently irritable, have had weight gain recently, talk to your doctor about the possibility of having a sleep study. Our goal at Dr. Zzz’s Sleep Center is to provide you with the best possible sleep diagnostic study and help you remedy your sleep disorder as quick as possible. All we want to do is add meaningful sleep to your mind and spirit, and spirit to your mind and body!

Click the next to the sleep disorder for a short definition.

• Disturbed Sleep or Sleep Apnea

  Sleep apnea is interrupted breathing during sleep. It can result from malfunctioning neurons, though usually it is a mechanical problem in the windpipe. As people age, their muscle tone relaxes and their windpipe can collapse as a result. Known as obstructive sleep apnea, this causes loud snoring and blocked air flow through the windpipe. A person is unable to breathe for anywhere from 10 to 60 seconds. It may appear that the person is gasping or snorting. Luckily, the brain quickly reacts to the sudden lack of oxygen, the muscles tighten, and the windpipe opens. Two things happen in a person who suffers from sleep apnea. First, they lose sleep, because every time the windpipe closes, the person has to wake up enough to contract those muscles and resume breathing. As a result, their sleep cycle can be interrupted up to a 100 times a night. Second, every time the windpipe closes, the brain is deprived of oxygen; eventually, this lack of oxygen can cause problems such as morning headaches or a decreased mental functioning. People who have sleep apnea are at a greater risk for heart disease and strokes. A narrowing of the nasal passages or back of the mouth, enlarged tonsils, and obesity are all factors that may contribute to obstructive sleep apnea. Sleep apnea may also be related to the use of alcohol, tobacco, or sedatives.

• Sleeplessness or Lack of Sleep

  Insomnia is the inability to fall asleep. It is a common sleep problem that most people at least occasionally experience at various points in their lives. When it occurs, people feel tired much of the time and tend to worry a lot about the fact that they are not getting enough sleep. Consequently, insomnia often disrupts a person's daily life. It can result from emotional difficulties, stress, diet (caffeine and alcohol, for example, both significantly affect sleep), an underlying disease, and a host of other factors. For short-term insomnia, sleeping pills can be effective. For long-term insomnia, however, sleeping pills can actually make the insomnia worse.

• Sleep Deprivation

  Sleep deprivation is not really a disorder. It simply indicates that a person has not been sleeping enough. Not getting enough sleep can affect a person's judgment, reaction-time, hand-eye coordination, memory, and general well-being. Studies have shown that sleep deprivation can have damaging effects on a person's immune system. If a person feels drowsy during the day, falls asleep for very short periods of time (5 minutes or so), or regularly falls asleep immediately after lying down, they are probably sleep-deprived.

• REM Sleep Behavior Disorder

  During REM, the dream phase of sleep, signals are sent from a part of the brainstem called the pons to the cerebral cortex, the area of the cerebrum responsible for thinking and organizing information. In a person with REM sleep behavior disorder, the signals that the pons sends out somehow translate into the bizarre images that make up dreams. The pons also sends out signals to all the muscles in the body that cause a temporary paralysis. If these signals are interfered with, people will physically act out their dreams though asleep. So if dreaming about running, for example, the patient with REM sleep disorder might actually get up and run, with the potential of causing serious damage to themselves, other people or their surroundings. Though potentially quite dangerous, REM sleep behavior disorder is rare.

• Restless Legs Syndrome & Periodic Limb Movement

  Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a very common sleep disorder, especially among the elderly. It is a genetic disorder that leads to a prickly or tingling sensation in the leg that causes people to want to move their legs. It causes insomnia at night. Periodic limb movement (PLMD) is a jerkiness in the legs or arms that can occur frequently during resting or sleeping, up to as many as three times a minute. Each jerk can wake a person up.

• Abnormally Increased Sleep or Narcolepsy

  People with narcolepsy are sleepy during the day and fall asleep uncontrollably throughout the day for periods that last for less than a minute to more than half an hour. These random sleep attacks can occur at anytime, even while the person is engaged in an activity. When they are asleep, narcoleptics have an abnormal sleep pattern: They enter REM sleep prematurely without going through the normal sequence of sleep stages. Other classic symptoms include cataplexy, sleep paralysis, and hypnagogic hallucinations. The symptoms of narcolepsy usually begin sometime between the ages of 15 and 30. Narcolepsy is usually a genetic disorder, although sometimes it is associated with brain damage or neurological disease. Some people with narcolepsy have noticed that the sleep attacks increase in frequency during certain times, such as pregnancy, illness, fever, or periods of increased stress.

• Cataplexy

  Cataplexy is the weakening or paralysis of the muscles. In narcoleptic patients it is often coupled with short, sudden episodes of strong emotion such as laughter or anger. It is often triggered by tiredness and intense emotions. When it happens, a person who is standing may fall down.

• Sleep Paralysis

  Sleep paralysis is the inability to move the arms or legs or the complete paralysis of the whole body that occurs when a person is falling asleep or waking up. It usually lasts for only a very brief period of time. People who are experiencing sleep paralysis may become very anxious and often regain movement only if they hear a loud noise or if some other stimulus jolts them out of it.

• Hypnagogic Hallucinations

  Hypnagogic hallucinations or pre-sleep dreams, are dream-like hallucinations that occur in the transition between being awake and being asleep, that is, while falling asleep. Sometimes they occur while the person is still awake. They are very vivid, frightening dreams.