Bustle reviews some of the most popular sleep tracking smartwatches on the market.

When it comes to sleep tracking, the Fitbit Versa 2 is a cut above the rest. It tracks sleep by monitoring restlessness as well as your heart rate, which varies depending on which stage of sleep you’re in. Based on that, the accompanying app gives you an overall sleep score, as well as a graph that displays how much time you spent in light, deep, and REM sleep, plus any time lying awake in bed.

This watch is also the only pick that has a built-in SpO2 sensor that tracks your estimated blood oxygen levels throughout the night — a tool that can be helpful for managing sleep apnea. (Of course, this is not a substitute for professional medical help.)

Get the full story at bustle.com.

from Sleep Review https://www.sleepreviewmag.com/sleep-diagnostics/consumer-sleep-tracking/the-best-smartwatches-for-sleep-tracking/…

A dentist and founding partner at Sleep Better Austin shares 6 lessons learned while growing his practice.

By Brandon Hedgecock, DDS, DABDSM

Practicing dental sleep medicine can be one of the most rewarding things you do in dentistry. When you consider the multiple health and psychological consequences associated with poor sleep and untreated sleep apnea, the impact you can have on the lives of others is far reaching.

Making oral appliances to treat sleep apnea may be the easiest procedure in dentistry, honestly. If a dentist or dental assistant can take a good physical or digital impression and bite registration, then the skillset is accessible. However, many dentists fail to truly make dental sleep medicine a big part of what they do because of the many obstacles that arise when building the business. So the real question isn’t about how to make appliances. The real question is: What level of impact do you want to make as a dental sleep medicine provider?

Most dentists who I talk to about dental sleep say something like, “I want to incorporate this into …

Yale professor of medicine and clinical professor of nursing Meir Kryger, MD, recently participated in a virtual press conference, during which he spoke about the long history of sleep disorders, and gave tips about how to get a better night’s sleep.

What follows is an edited version of his remarks.

How long have you been studying sleep? What led you to study sleep?

I’ve been studying sleep since I was a medical resident in 1974. I had a patient who had a sleep problem but there was nothing known about sleep disturbances at the time, and nothing in the literature to explain what he had. The man had sleep apnea, which had not even been described in North America. I went on to publish the first paper in North America on sleep apnea. For me, studying sleep has been an adventure to see what I could learn and now to watch the field expand. 

When were sleep disturbances first documented?

Sleep disorders have been around for thousands of years. Descriptions of sleep apnea date back to 325 B.C., where historians

The American Association of Sleep Technologists (AAST) is offering members access to two free continuing education credits (CEC)s through online content and articles, according to an email announcement.

A few current free CEC offerings include:

Case of the Month #14: Treatment of Mild OSA
1.0 CEC for AAST Members Only
Discussion of Ms. O, a patient with excessive daytime sleepiness and witnessed apnea. The patient has prolonged sleep onset latency, periodic limb movements in sleep, and mild obstructive sleep apnea predominantly during REM sleep. The pros and cons of treatment of mild OSA are reviewed, including a discussion of REM-predominant OSA.

Journal Club #27: APRN and PA in Sleep Centers
1.0 CEC for AAST Members Only
A discussion of the influx of APRNs and PAs into sleep medicine. How are they trained? What roles do they fill? How will NPs and sleep technologists function in an integrated sleep center that focuses on patient care? What is the role of primary care in the treatment of sleep disorders?

(Available Starting Tuesday, June 2) AAST Town Hall – Providing Sleep Center …

While researching the science and culture of breathing for his new book, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, journalist James Nestor participated in a study in which his nose was completely plugged for 10 days, forcing him to breathe solely through his mouth, reports NPR.

“I went from snoring a couple minutes a night to, within three days, I was snoring four hours a night,” he says of the forced mouth-breathing. “I developed sleep apnea. My stress levels were off the charts. My nervous system was a mess. … I felt awful.”

Listen to the segment at npr.org

from Sleep Review https://www.sleepreviewmag.com/sleep-disorders/breathing-disorders/how-the-lost-art-of-breathing-can-impact-sleep-and-resilience/…

The use of CPAP devices for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) varies substantially by age and gender, with younger women who have OSA using CPAP the least, according to a new study. The study was posted online in the Abstract Issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (Abstract #6989: Epidemiology of CPAP Adherence in U.S. Adults).

“Most of what is known about CPAP adherence is based on participants in research studies, which generally include primarily middle-aged men, as well as those receiving care at academic centers,” says lead author Sanjay Patel, MD, MS, professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh and medical director of the UPMC Comprehensive Sleep Disorders Program, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, in a release.

“We were interested in what CPAP adherence looks like in the general population to give insights into real-world situations involving other demographic groups who have been understudied. Because the focus of most research including interventions to increase adherence has been based on middle-aged men, we hypothesized that understudied groups would have worse outcomes.”

Patel and colleagues …

Asheville, NC-Aeroflow Healthcare, a nationwide medical equipment (DME) provider, announced an expansion of sleep apnea treatment solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the addition of telemedicine services.

Aeroflow is contracting with Itamar Medical to increase patient access to home sleep testing using the WatchPAT ONE single use device for home sleep testing, allowing patients to manage their sleep apnea treatment and improve their health outcomes as patients and providers alike are asked to stay home to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Aeroflow will facilitate telehealth consultations with board-certified physicians for sleep data interpretations and diagnosis, while Aeroflow respiratory therapists will provide in-home and telehealth respiratory therapy set-ups.

“Implementing telehealth services enables our patients to get the highest quality care possible during a very difficult time,” says Michelle Worley, director of clinical operations at Aeroflow Healthcare’s Sleep division, in a release. “Patient care continues to be the top priority of our clinical staff, and this expansion allows them to continue serving patients uninterrupted.”

Eric Mongeau, national sales director at Aeroflow Healthcare’s Sleep division, says, “COVID-19 may impact patients’ access to critical …

A simplified version for patient home use is coming soon.

By Lisa Spear

CPAP mask selection is not always easy. And in the current COVID-19 climate, when many sleep labs are closed and patients are fearful of leaving their homes, mask selection can become even more challenging. The Philips Respironics Mask Selector, now available for sleep labs, durable medical equipment (DMEs) providers, and physicians throughout North America, aims to make interface selection faster and more attuned to each person’s needs. All without touching the patient, the technology scans the head and face, using a camera system that is mounted on a tablet. After the patient answers a few questions about their sleeping preferences and habits, the software analyzes the person’s facial anatomy before recommending specific Philips masks for a precision fit.

“In these unique times, the solution allows for limited contact between patient and provider during the fitting process, as sizing takes place via advanced scanning and data analysis instead of by physical touch,” says Mark D’Angelo, business category leader in sleep apnea solutions at Philips Sleep and Respiratory Care.…

Patients suffering from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may turn to different ways to mark liver fat quantities, MD Magazine reports.

A team, led by David Hui, BBS, Medicine & Therapeutics, Chinese University of Hong Kong, examined whether intrahepatic triglyceride content measured by proton-magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) could be the new gold standard for liver fat quantification.

While obstructive sleep apnea is linked to the development of NAFLD, proton-magnetic resonance spectroscopy estimating proton density fat fraction is a novel biomarker that is more sensitive than liver biopsies to determine steatosis grade in assessing changes in the liver fat content.

Get the full story at mdmag.com.

from Sleep Review https://www.sleepreviewmag.com/sleep-health/sleep-whole-body/no-effect-on-liver-markers-from-cpap-type-for-sleep-apnea-patients/…