When I’m developing customized sleep plans for my patients a lot of the times people are solely focused on the end result of getting eight hours of sleep per night.  The evidence-based solutions I utilize are a series of small steps which are implemented over time and...

Mindfulness can be an extremely powerful tool for treating insomnia. ⁣In my last post I talked about reducing sympathetic activation (flight or fight). In this post I’ll focus on facilitating parasympathetic activity (rest and digest). ⁣Mindfulness can sound...

Today I thought it would be engaging to share a rare sleep disorder, but one I’ve seen and diagnosed.  Exploding Head Syndrome⁣ Presents as a sudden loud noise, snap, or explosion usually at sleep onset or upon awakening. ⁣ Can occur as an isolated incident or in a...

Is it possible to know if I have obstructive sleep apnea without seeing a sleep specialist? Two common screening tools used for obstructive sleep apnea are the Berlin questionnaire and the STOP-BANG which are validated for obstructive sleep apnea.  ⁣ For a non-sleep...

CPAP is an acronym for continuous positive airway pressure. ⁣ Gentle air pressure is applied to the upper airway by way of a mask to prevent the throat from collapsing during sleep in ppl with obstructive sleep apnea.⁣  CPAP is extremely effective, safe, and (most of...

A very common questions I get asked is how can I get more deep sleep?  The brain generates deep sleep through a pathway involving the neurotransmitter adenosine. ⁣There are several ways to increase adenosine ⁣The longer we are awake the more adenosine (sleep debt) we...

I doubt there are many people who would decline an opportunity to have more deep sleep. Deep sleep is synonymous with restoration but what is it?⁣⁣⁣  In the sleep lab, we identify deep sleep by an electrical pattern generated by the brain which is characterized by...

The most commons concerns I hear about CPAP are things like:⁣⁣ What does it look like?⁣⁣ How big is it?⁣⁣ Will I be able to sleep on my side?⁣⁣ Will I be able to roll over?⁣⁣ Is there a mask that works better than others?⁣⁣ In this Instagram video series I’ll show you...

Our brains generate four stages of sleep, two lighter stages and two deeper stages.⁣ REM Sleep is one of the two deep stages of sleep.⁣ Brain waves during REM sleep are similar to wakefulness showing the brain is very active.⁣ REM Sleep is distinguished from all the...

A popular and sensible trend in the food industry is eating in season. Eating locally what’s available because it’s natural and grown in an organic manner not engineered or mass produced.    When I worked in Anchorage I thought about this a lot and how a similar...

I always tell people if you give me an hour of your time to talk to you about sleep, I’ll diagnose you with a sleep disorder. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, to me it means I can help you sleep better. And it’s a reflection of the current state of affairs in our...

Daylight saving time is coming to an end tomorrow night. Did you know it dates all the way back to Benjamin Franklin who proposed it as a way to conserve energy?    However it was not until WWI that it was actually implemented and used for that purpose. It was then...