News & Announcements
2020 Educational Symposium
The 13th Annual Educational Symposium to be held in San Diego on September 25-26, 2020, at the Courtyard Marriott San Diego Airport/Liberty Station has been postponed due to COVID-19; however, a webinar format Symposium is currently slated for October 16-17, 2020, consisting of two half-days.
Why Sacramento?
By: Rafael Pelayo, MD “Why not?” is the simplest answer. For years, many California Sleep Society (CSS) members, have wanted our annual meeting be in Sacramento. We will hold our first meeting there at the end of September. It does take a lot of time to...
Guardrails
By: Rafael Pelayo, MD What did Jerry Garcia and Antonin Scalia likely have most in common? How they slept. About a third of their time they shared the same condition millions of others do. Their deaths were related to obstructive sleep apnea. Jerry Garcia did not...
The Occasional Rough Night
By: Sam A. Kashani, MD One of my favorite questions I am frequently asked by people is “what do you recommend I do if I’m just having a bad night?“ More specifically, I often encounter a solid sleeper who doesn’t necessarily have a chronic sleep difficulty but just...
The Patient Treatment Burden of Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Impact on Adherence
By: Robyn Woidtke, MSN, RN, RPSGT, CCSH, FAAST Non-adherence in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a known risk factor which may contribute to worsening of the condition, exacerbate co-morbid or multimorbid conditions or contribute to the development of...
A New Light at the End of the Idiopathic Hypersomnia Tunnel
By: Sam Kashani, MD, FAASM In August 2021, Jazz Pharmaceuticals announced the US FDA approval of Xywav for the treatment of idiopathic hypersomnia in adults. Xywav, an oral solution consisting primarily of oxybate (GHB), already has approval for the treatment of...
Circadian Issues in the Sleep Doctor’s Office
By: Andrew Binder, MD, FAASM, FCCP I love being a sleep doctor. I often introduce myself as a “recovering pulmonary and critical care doctor.” One of the reasons I love being a sleep doctor is that I think it is one of the few things, in my advanced age, at which I...
OSA and Physician’s Role in Weight Loss
By: Said Mostafavi, MD, FCCP, FAASM Like most sleep physicians, treating sleep-disordered breathing constitutes a large percentage of my practice. When it comes to treating obstructive sleep apnea, we thankfully have various treatment options available, some...
Why You Should Attend the Sleep Conference this Year
By: By Patrick Moday, BBA, RPSGT, RST, CCSH I started working in sleep clinical research while in college and would attend pharmaceutical conferences every 3-4 months. The meetings were about pharmaceutical medications for sleep-related conditions. There were cool...
A Brief Overview on Sleep Health and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
By: Robyn Woidtke, RN, RPSGT Why should we care about and recognize polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) in sleep health? This “very” brief overview is aimed to answer some of those questions. Additionally, an objective would be to create an interest in reaching out...
Irregular Sleep Pattern and Mood
By: Joshua Roland, MD, FAASM It is fairly intuitive that mood and sleep have a bidirectional relationship. When we sleep poorly, we are more likely to not be in our best disposition and have a compromised emotional threshold the following day. We also know anxiety,...

Mild Sleep Apnea & Excessive Sleepiness
By: Sam Kashani, MD The severity of sleep apnea is determined on a sleep study and is typically based on the number of respiratory pauses/disruptions per hour of sleep, which is generally reflected by the RDI, or respiratory disturbance index. Keeping in mind that a...
“Summer’s Here and the Time is Right for Dancing in the Street”
By: Rafael Pelayo, MD I hope all of you are in full swing enjoying the 2022 summer. It has been strange for many of us to start interacting again with each other in person. For those of us in the healthcare field, we are in a hybrid situation of keeping the strict...

What Do Video Games Tell Us About Sleep?
By: Eric Young, RPSGT Exiting the pandemic, there’s been an increase in electronic media consumption. More people are on TikTok, connecting through Facebook, and, of course, playing video games. A 2019 survey[1] by CommonSenseMedia.org showed 56% of 13 to...
Why Sacramento?
By: Rafael Pelayo, MD “Why not?” is the simplest answer. For years, many California Sleep Society (CSS) members, have wanted our annual meeting be in Sacramento. We will hold our first meeting there at the end of September. It does take a lot of time to...
Guardrails
By: Rafael Pelayo, MD What did Jerry Garcia and Antonin Scalia likely have most in common? How they slept. About a third of their time they shared the same condition millions of others do. Their deaths were related to obstructive sleep apnea. Jerry Garcia did not...

The Occasional Rough Night
By: Sam A. Kashani, MD One of my favorite questions I am frequently asked by people is “what do you recommend I do if I’m just having a bad night?“ More specifically, I often encounter a solid sleeper who doesn’t necessarily have a chronic sleep difficulty but just...
15th Annual Educational Symposium – 2022
In Memoriam: Allan Rechtschaffen, PhD (1927 – 2021)
The California Sleep Society mourns the death of the Allan Rechtschaffen, PhD.

The Patient Treatment Burden of Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Impact on Adherence
By: Robyn Woidtke, MSN, RN, RPSGT, CCSH, FAAST Non-adherence in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a known risk factor which may contribute to worsening of the condition, exacerbate co-morbid or multimorbid conditions or contribute to the development of...

A New Light at the End of the Idiopathic Hypersomnia Tunnel
By: Sam Kashani, MD, FAASM In August 2021, Jazz Pharmaceuticals announced the US FDA approval of Xywav for the treatment of idiopathic hypersomnia in adults. Xywav, an oral solution consisting primarily of oxybate (GHB), already has approval for the treatment of...