O gentle sleep!

Alaina Zanin
Stillwater NewsPress

June 15, 2008 12:14 am

— Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber:
Thou hast no figures nor no fantasies
Which busy care draws in the brains of men;
Therefore thou sleep’st so sound.
— William Shakespeare, “Julius Caesar”

Sleep.
Everyone needs it, but few are able to get the recommended eight-plus hours of shuteye every evening.
More than 40 million Americans suffer from the irritability, trouble concentrating, forgetfulness and aches and pains associated with a lack of sleep, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
At Cushing Regional Hospital’s sleep lab, Registered Respiratory Therapist Jim Kephart and Dr. Jeremy Cole try to help a few of those 40 million Americans.
The poshly decorated lab, equipped with plush beds, a refrigerator and a television, was built three years ago at the request of Kephart. The lab has been busy since, serving more than 30 patients a month with a usual one week waiting list for a sleep study.
Being a respiratory therapist, Kephart said he saw a need for the lab because of the prevalence of undiagnosed sleep apnea, in which a patient wakes up 50 to 70 times a night because of decreased airflow during sleep, such as from narrowed airways.
“About 5 percent of all Americans have sleep apnea and only 10 percent of them have been diagnosed,” Kephart said.
Other factors, such as obesity, smoking, congestive heart failure, type II diabetes, and genetics have been linked to obstructive sleep apnea.
Being diagnosed with sleep apnea more than 10 years ago, Dan Wilson, support services manager at the hospital, knows firsthand how unique the sleep center is.
“My first sleep study was in Enid, in a cold basement room kind of like ‘Frankenstien,’” Wilson said. “When I heard we were building a sleep lab here I wanted to make sure it had all the amenities so patients felt comfortable.”
Wilson said he now uses a centralized positive air pressure machine to help him breathe at night and it has greatly improved his health and his daily life.
“I used to fall asleep at my desk and I would wake my wife up all the time because I snored so loud,” Wilson said. “After I got used to the machine, I would wake up so much more refreshed and ready to start my day. Now, I don’t go anywhere without it.”
The Cushing Sleep Lab is also unique in that it caters to adults as well as children, while other labs do not. The lab treats many other sleep disorders such as insomnia, narcolepsy and restless legs syndrome.
Patients are usually referred by their private doctors, but can also be evaluated at the sleep lab. During a sleep study, 16 patient data channels are monitored including five brain sensors, a camera, air flow monitors and cardiac sensors. Cole can then monitor the patients on a live feed via the Internet from his home in Norman.
Cole then reviews the results of the sleep study and gives a recommendation to the patient’s primary physician for further treatment.
Medications are used to treat many of the disorders, but especially for insomnia, sleep lab staffers recommend trying more natural remedies. For information or to set up an appointment, call (918) 225-8480.

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