Sweet dreams for the restless: UIC opens Sleep Science Center
By Sarah Severson
Many adults assume fragmented sleep, snoring, and being tired are a part of getting older. These symptoms often point to undiagnosed sleep problems, however. Between 50 and 70 million Americans suffer from chronic sleep disorders and sleep deprivation, demonstrating the pressing need for diagnosis and care.
In response, the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)
College of Medicine recently opened its Sleep Science Center in a new
facility at the Tech 2000 Building, 2242 W. Harrison St.
The facility’s design mimics a nice hotel to ease patients’ stress while staff monitor their sleep. It features ten rooms with private bathrooms and fluffy towels, flat-screen TVs with high definition service, and artwork on the walls. Two rooms accommodate pediatric patients with more space and chairs that convert to beds so parents can spend the night with their children.
“This new ‘Marriott model’ helps people relax in these quiet rooms,” said James Herdegen, MD, associate professor of pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine and director of the center. “We want it to emulate a welcoming hotel environment.”
The center uses high-tech monitoring devices that sense the patient’s heart rate, breathing, oxygen levels, sleep stages, and leg movements to provide insight on sleep quality and help doctors diagnose and treat problems such as sleep apnea, excessive sleepiness, restless leg syndrome, and sleep issues in shift workers.
UIC is participating in a National Institutes of Health study examining sleep problems in patients with chronic renal insufficiency. UIC also plans to use the facility to study how treating sleep apnea affects metabolic changes in type 2 diabetes and how sleep apnea affects cerebral blood flow.
“Sleep is a young field compared to other medicines—REM sleep was discovered only in the 1960s,” Herdegen said. “The need for sleep awareness has continued to grow, driven by several epidemics in our country; obesity and our culture of a 24-hour society have led to increasing problems related to sleep deprivation."
Herdegen said almost one in three people suffers from some type of sleep disorder over the course of their lifetime. Insomnia affects almost a quarter of the population, and sleep apnea affects five to ten percent of the population, with some health groups at a higher risk. Up to 15% of the population suffers from restless leg or periodic leg movements, and today one-fifth of the population has a nontraditional work schedule, which can cause sleeping problems.
Children experience similar sleep problems. The average child undergoes four to five hours of video interaction each day, whether through television, video games, or the computer, which makes sleeping more of a challenge.
“It’s a different phenomenon from 20 to 40 years ago,” Herdegen said, noting such stimulation "takes away time from sleeping.”
The center treats sleep-deprived children who are diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and those with obesity-related disorders such as apnea, bedwetting, night terrors, and sleep walking.
“Parents let their kids stay up more and have fewer boundaries for video interaction yet wonder why the kids are falling asleep in school,” Herdegen said.
The new facility—just a few blocks from the university hospital, within the Illinois Medical District—will allow Herdegen’s team to expand sleep knowledge for patients, the scientific community, and medical students. It treats patients on an inpatient and outpatient basis.
“We can provide a very custom treatment as necessary,” Herdegen said. “Most of the time we’re finding people with sleep problems who are afraid to ask or don’t know who to ask or who are too busy focusing on other things, but everyone is important.”
Delshay Adams recently stayed overnight at the facility.
“I went to the hospital for the first time in June 2006 for a clinical visit and sleep study," she explained. "I got my CPAP [Continuous Positive Airway Pressure] machine, which gives me oxygen when I stop breathing in my sleep and keeps my airway open—especially when sleeping on my back.”
Before her first visit to the hospital, Adams was waking up with headaches that lasted all day. Diagnosed with sleep apnea, she recently returned, this time to the new facility.
“The new clinic has parking, and it’s easy to get to,” she said. “It was clean and comfortable, and I went right to work the next day like nothing happened.”
Adams had a grandmother who died because she did not use her CPAP machine and stopped breathing, which scared Adams into being diligent with using her own machine.
“Even though you feel healthy, a lot of times you’re not,” she said. “You need to get tested and make sure everything is okay.”
