News & Announcements
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...
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...
Sleep Technologists Appreciation Week
Sleep Technologists Appreciation Week Join us October 22-28, 2023, in celebrating Sleep Technologists Appreciation Week!
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) – Awareness Month and Safe Sleep Practices
Sleep health professionals are in the perfect position to advocate for safe sleep practices in their communities. Although the rate of SIDS has declined over the years, it still occurs. Although October is SIDS awareness month, we should be thoughtful of this year...
Dementia and Sleep
By: Patrick Moday, BBA, RPSGT, RST, CCSH You know, the first sign of dementia is when you repeat yourself. You know, the first sign of dementia is when you repeat yourself. Dementia Dementia is the loss of cognitive functioning — thinking, remembering, and reasoning —...
Community
By: Jonathan Sherrill, RPSGT, RST Greetings fellow sleep professionals, With so many changes happening in the community of sleep, I would not be surprised if we set a new attendance for our annual conference, October 6-7, 2023, in San Diego, California. Community: A...
Idiopathic Hypersomnia Is More Than Just Sleepiness
By: Logan D. Schneider, MD Idiopathic hypersomnia is a sleep disorder that is primarily characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS; the inability to remain awake or alert during the day) and, in some patients, an excessive need for sleep (often sleeping more...
Volunteering – Cost: Personal Time and Effort, Reward: Priceless
By: Patrick Moday, BBA, RPSGT, RST, CCSH Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue....
Beyond Sleep Tracking: Leveraging Consumer Sleep Technology For Improving Population Sleep Health
By: Elie Gottlieb, PhD Consumer sleep technology is ubiquitous with the goal of empowering users to become more aware of their sleep, with some even claiming to improve healthy sleep and circadian behaviors. Initially conceived as ‘fitness trackers’ primarily limited...
Healthier Sleep May Be Coming To Florida
By: Rafael Pelayo, MD Why are you reading about Florida in a California Sleep Society newsletter? Florida is considering delaying school start times statewide like we have in our State! The California Sleep Society’s efforts in our state helped pass the first state...
From Sleep Tech to Sleep Manager
By: Alana Sherrill, CCSH, RPSGT, Supervisor, Hoag Sleep Program and Lacey Lori, RPSGT, Redlands Sleep Center Manager, Progressive Neurology and Sleep Medicine Associates It’s summer of 2022, two daytime sleep techs take a break to rest their achy scoring claws with a...
President’s Corner
By: Rafael Pelayo, MD Thank you to all of you that attended our annual meeting in Sacramento. For those of you who did not make it, you really missed a great time. Please do yourself a favor and don’t miss another one. This year was one of my favorite CSS meetings...