Why Do Some Insomniacs Keep Waking Up At the Same Time?

December 7, 2011

One of the most common complaints that I get from patients is that they keep waking up at the same time in the middle of the night and are unable to get back to sleep, or they keep waking up every 90 to 120 minutes. This phenomenon is called sleep maintenance insomnia, when you are unable to stay asleep during the night. In contrast, sleep onset insomnia is when you’re unable to fall asleep in the beginning of the night.

A low-dose version of zolpidem (Ambien) was recently FDA approved as Intermezzo to treat these middle of the night awakenings. It’s purpose is similar to zaleplon (Sonata), which is a very short-acting sleep aid, so it can be used in the middle of the night to get back to sleep, without the “hangover” effects that people feel with typical sleep aids.

There are a number of different explanations for why some people keep waking up in the middle of the night. One theory is that people with insomnia are hyperarousable, with higher levels of brain activity and stress hormones. If it’s due to these factors, why is it that insomniacs keep waking up at the same time? One possible explanation is that it has to do with sleep stages. Humans go through 4-5 cycles of sleep, where deep sleep (slow wave) predominates in the first half of the night and REM sleep is more common in the second half. As the night progresses, the periods of REM sleep become longer and longer. Since we know that throat muscles are most relaxed during REM sleep, you’re more likely to have breathing pauses during REM, especially if you’re anatomically predisposed (narrowed upper airway anatomy).

This can explain why many people say that they keep waking up at 3AM, like clockwork. Some people wake up when REM length reaches a critical period, whereas other keep waking up with each successive REM period. Transitions into and out of REM can also predispose one to upper airway instability.

One thing I’ve noticed is that in almost all cases, severe insomniacs have very narrowed upper air passageways. On endoscopy, the space behind the tongue is very narrow, and most people can’t (or prefer not to) sleep on their backs, since the tongue is more likely to fall back then supine. Dr. Barry Krakow did a study a while back showing that the vast majority of insomniacs who were resistant to sleeping pills had sleep-breathing problems.

What I’m describing is not necessarily obstructive sleep apnea. Once you obstruct or have partial obstruction, you can either continue the breathing pause for 10 to 40 seconds (this is called an apnea or hypopnea). But if you wake up quickly within a few seconds, then it’s called an arousal. Insomniacs typically have lots of arousals.

This is why even if you have classic insomnia, you need to look for and treat any underlying sleep-breathing problems, regardless of whether or not you have apneas.

If you are an insomniac, what time do you wake up in the middle of the night?

Written by Steven Park · Filed Under Blog | 2 Comments

Ask Dr. Park About Sleep About Sleep Apnea (11/8/11)

November 6, 2011

For this month’s Ask Dr. Park teleseminar, I answer the following questions:

1. Does sleeping with your head propped up help with sleep apnea?

2. Why is UARS so hard to define?

3. What do you think about all the latest publicity about thyroidectomy in helping with sleep apnea?

4. Can using tape over the mouth help with sleep apnea?

5. As we age how can we gauge whether we have sleep-related breathing issues, or circadian rhythm problems?

6. What if you are using a cpap machine and STILL wake up about every 2-3 hours?

7. How low should one seek to lower the AHI and the AI?

8. Is there a place for hyperbaric oxygen in the treatment of OSA?

9. Does a dental positioning device work for mild sleep apnea?

10. How does the future look for sleep apnea patients£ Will something replace CPAP as the gold standard?

11. Is there a clear distinction between central and obstructive sleep apnea? What are the alternatives if your apnea is primarily classified central?

12. If patient’s airway is examined with camera inserted through nose while patient is sitting upright and airway is found to be clear, is this enough to indicate airway would also be clear if patient was lying down? Should patients be checked in both positions?

And many more questions from the live audience.

Click here to purchase the MP3 recording ($17).

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Expert Interview: Eric Cohen on How to Achieve 89% CPAP Aderence Rates

August 9, 2011

In this Expert Interview, I talk with Mr. Eric Cohen and Mr. Jake McCabe of National Sleep Therapy on how their company achieves an 89% CPAP adherence rate.

Besides revealing their secret to getting very high adherence rates, here are some other questions we covered:

- Define compliance or adherence, and medicare criteria
- What’s the national CPAP adherence rate average?
- Being compliant or adherent doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re sleeping better, right?
- How does the patient, doctor, and DME work together to raise adherence rates?
- How long do you stay with the patient?
- Do you have any special tools to help the patient?
- What would you say are some of the top things patients can do?

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UARS Article In Forbes.com

August 6, 2011

Here’s a good summary of upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS) in the Forbes.com health blog, where I get interviewed about this all-too-common condition.

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Ask Dr. Park: Any Question About Sleep Apnea or UARS

August 4, 2011

In this Ask Dr. Park Teleseminar, I answer the following questions:

- Why don’t I feel better on CPAP?

- How long do I have to wait before feeling better on CPAP?

- What’s the best PAP machine for sleep apnea or UARS?

- What’s the difference between flow limitations and RERAs?

- What is the best surgical option for sleep apnea?

- Can nasal surgery cure sleep apnea?

- Is waking up early in the morning everyday around the same time an indication of sleep apnea?

- I was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (AHI 36-40) but do not snore. Might this mean there is some other cause?

- Plus much more….

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Pregnant Women More Likely To Stop Breathing At Night

August 3, 2011

As a follow-up to my post last week on why pregnant women may have an increased risk of stroke, here’s a study published this month in the journal Sleep. Researchers compared 34 women with gestational hypertension vs. 26 healthy women with uncomplicated pregnancies. Significant sleep-disordered breathing was defined as a respiratory disturbance index (RDI) of 5. Pregnant women with high blood pressure had significant sleep-disordered breathing in 53%, whereas 12% of healthy pregnant women had sleep-disordered breathing. Hypertension is a known risk factor for preeclampsia and stroke.

This study is in line with my suspicion that pregnant women, while at risk for obstructive sleep apnea, probably have shorter obstructions and RERAs (respiratory-effort related arousals), rather than frank apneas. Increased progesterone and various other physiologic changes seen in pregnancy can increase your respiratory drive and lower arousal thresholds, leading to more frequent arousals from deep sleep.

Notice how commonly pregnant women snore, and they’re extremely tired. If they weren’t pregnant, doctors would suspect obstructive sleep apnea. Then why do we have this double standard? Why can’t women who suddenly gain weight and snore be routinely screened for obstructive sleep apnea?

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Why Pregnant Women Have More Strokes

July 28, 2011

Rates of stroke went up 47% for expectant mothers and climbed to 83% in the first three months after delivery. This was the finding that was published in the journal Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. They cite rising rates of additional risk factors such as high blood pressure, obesity, and gestational diabetes, but didn’t give a plausible explanation. Here’s a story about this study published in the Wall Street Journal.

Here’s a simple explanation: Sleep-breathing problems. Whether it’s obstructive sleep apnea or more likely upper airway resistance syndrome, pregnant women tend to have more frequent breathing pauses, especially as they gain weight. One protective mechanism is through progesterone, which acts as a tongue muscle stimulant, but the forces of upper airway collapse is likely to overwhelm these protective effects. What’s even more striking is that the rate almost doubles immediately postpartum. Remember that progesterone drops soon after delivery, but you’re still left with all that additional weight. We know that obstructive sleep apnea can significantly increase your chances of stroke and heart attacks. There are even reports that suggest that preeclampsia can be successfully treated with CPAP.

Overall, the numbers are still very low, but the sudden rise in the rate of stroke in new mothers leaves researchers scratching their heads.

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Interrupted Sleep And Memory Loss

July 26, 2011

Remember the last time you forgot something? Did you forget about the last time this happened? Chances are, you were probably sleep deprived.

There are tons of studies showing that even mild sleep deprivation can have detrimental effects on memory and executive functioning. Now there’s new research from Stanford University showing that sleep fragmentation can be just as detrimental as sleep deprivation. The researchers figured out a way of fragmenting sleep in mice without causing any stress, using special lights to control genetically engineered brain neurons that control sleep and wake. By pulsing these cells with 10 second bursts of light, they could fragment sleep without significantly altering the quality and the composition of sleep, or the total sleep time.

Their conclusion was that “regardless of the total amount of sleep, a minimal unit of uninterrupted sleep is crucial for memory consolidation.”

Another research tool that’s used to measure deep sleep instability is what’s called cyclic alternating pattern (CAP) analysis. Cyclic patterns of brief brain wave arousals were found to be more common in people with upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS) and fibromyalgia.

These studies support the general observation that people with people with UARS, fibromyalgia, or idiopathic hypersomnias have increased levels of subtle arousals that don’t get scored on a routine sleep studies.

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The Connection Between Migraines & Sleep-Breathing Problems

July 22, 2011

Michelle Bachmann’s recent revelation that she suffers from migraines brings up an important point that most doctors and the lay public don’t appreciate: the importance of proper breathing at night. It’s commonly known that sleep deprivation can cause or aggravate migraines, but what’s usually assumed is that migraine sufferers are breathing well at night. If you’ve read my articles or listened to my teleseminars, I can make a convincing argument that migraine sufferers all have some variation of a sleep-breathing disorder, of which only a small fraction have obstructive sleep apnea.

Not Your Normal Migraines

The classic migraine headache is described as a one-sided, debilitating, pounding, intense headaches that’s associated with nausea, vomiting, light or sound sensitivity. Notice that classically, migraines get better with sleep. Recently, neurologists have expanded the definition of a migraine attack. Any time the nerves in any part of your body becomes oversensitive or overly excitable, then you’ll experience symptoms that are specific to that part of the body.

For example, if the nerve endings in your sinuses are suddenly extra sensitive, then you’ll feel pain, pressure, nasal congestion, and post-nasal drip. In fact, it’s been shown that the vast majority of chronic sinus headache and pain sufferers actually have a variation of a migraine, with normal CAT scans. Many people are placed on oral antibiotics empirically, when there’s no bacterial infection.

You can also have migraines in your stomach. This can present as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, or bloating. It’s been suggested that children who suffer from chronic abdominal pain actually suffer from migraines.

If you have a migraine attack in your inner ears, you’ll feel dizzy, lightheaded, feel fullness, or have hearing loss or ringing. This is called vestibular variant of migraine.

Problems Due to Your Tongue?

One anatomic feature that I see all migraineurs have in common is the very small nature of their upper airways, especially in the space behind the tongue and in the nose. I talk about how most modern humans have smaller jaws and facial skeletons due to a radical change in our diets and lifestyles. This leads to dental crowding, which narrows the space behind your tongue, especially if you lay flat on your back. When you go into deep sleep, since your muscles will relax, you’ll stop breathing and wake up to turn over to your side or stomach. This is why most people with this type of anatomy can’t sleep on their backs.

You Are A What?

These breathing pauses usually aren’t long enough to be called apneas (at least 10 second pauses), and usually don’t lead to lowered oxygen levels. However, it does lead to more frequent arousals and sleep fragmentation. Essentially, you can’t stay in deep sleep. In most cases, you won’t even realize that you’re waking up. What you will feel is not feeling refreshed when you wake up in the morning, or feeling like you only slept for 2-3 hours.

In the early 1990s, a new type of sleep-breathing problem called upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS) was described. Young women and men who didn’t meet the official criteria for obstructive sleep apnea were recruited and underwent esophageal pressure monitoring. What they showed was gradually increasing negative inspiratory pressures leading to an arousal, but not severe or long enough to be called apneas or hypopneas. Officially, apneas require at least 10 second breathing pauses, whereas hypopneas require 30 to 50% drop in airflow, along with arousals or oxygen level drops. However, if you don’t reach the 10 second threshold for apneas or hypopneas, then they’re not scored at all. So in theory, you can stop breathing 20 to 30 times every hour and not officially have obstructive sleep apnea.

En garde

Not being able to get deep, refreshing sleep can lead to a physiologic state of stress, where your entire nervous system can become heightened and hypersensitive, even carrying over into the daytime. Poor sleep quality also cause muscle tension and tightening, which can predispose to headaches, TMJ, neck spasms or backaches. Even your senses can become overly sensitive, especially to weather changes, chemical, scents or odors. In this particular situation, even your creativity or intuition can be heightened.

Notice how many of the features of a migraine attack are very similar to suffering from a hangover: nausea, vomiting, brain fog, and sensitivity to bright lights and loud noises. This is your involuntary nervous system over-reacting to something that’s not normally bothersome.

Simple Steps to Take

So if you suffer from any of these migraine types, what can you do besides take prescription medications? Here are 5 basic steps for better sleep and less headaches:

1. Don’t eat anything within 3-4 hours of bedtime. Having juices in your stomach can promote reflex into your throat, causing more arousals and less efficient sleep.

2. Don’t drink any alcohol within 3-4 hours of bedtime. Alcohol relaxes your throat muscles, causing more frequent obstructions and arousals.

3. Keep your nose clear. If your nose is stuffy for whatever reason, do everything possible to keep it open. Having a stuffy nose creates a vacuum effect downstream in the throat which causes your tongue to fall back more often. Use nasal saline irrigation systems, nasal dilator strips, allergy medications, decongestants and even surgery if the former options don’t work that well.

4. Don’t sleep on your back. Back sleeping promotes tongue collapse due to gravity.

5. Do more yoga, tai chi, or deep breathing exercises to calm your nervous system. Take 4-5 slow deep breaths anytime you have 15 to 30 seconds, such as while standing in line, in-between major activities, on hold one the phone, or walking to another room. This helps to activate your parasympathetic nervous system, which helps to calm and relax your body. Acupuncture can also help.

Other Steps to Take

Once you’ve tried these conservative options, and you wish to take it to the next level, consider undergoing a thorough ear, nose and throat evaluation to see of you have any narrowing in your breathing passageways. In particular, your doctor should focus on your nasal septum and turbinates, your nostrils (to see if they collapse), tonsils, adenoids, lingual tonsils, soft palate and tongue base areas.

Many people with migraines will have either UARS or sleep apnea. Standard treatment options can help to alleviate migraines significantly. Dental appliances and specialized orthodontics are also an excellent option—these options are more important if you have any significant dental crowding, bite issues, or if you have a very small mouth. Dentists can also help with TMJ, which can overlap significantly with migraines and various other facial pain syndromes.

Botox can also be used for migraines, but just like using prescription migraine medications, are only covering up the causes, rather than treating it.

To a certain extent, OTC medications, and natural herbs or supplement (like feverfew), while they do work to various degrees, doesn’t help everyone. But it’s worth trying, if you’re interested.

Avoiding migraine triggering foods: red wine, aged cheeses, chocolate, and MSG.

I don’t usually recommend surgery, but it can be a viable option if the more conservative options don’t help. There are a number of different options, depending on where the narrowing occurs in your breathing passageways.

Hope for Migraine Sufferers

One of the most gratifying experiences is to have patients tell me that their migraines (or even cluster headaches) went away after various forms of surgery. It even happens sometimes with some of the non-surgical, conservative options.

It’s a given in our culture that migraines must be treated with a pill, and I want to dispel that stereotype. I believe that trying to achieve the best possible sleep (by breathing better) is a better way of improving migraines. It’s important to combine the various conservative steps along with techniques to help you breathe better and sleep better. Rather than focusing on the migraine only, it’s more important to re-evaluate your entire life situation, and be willing to make the lifestyle changes that can not only improve your migraines, but also significantly improve your overall quality of life.

Written by Steven Park · Filed Under Articles | 1 Comment

Expert Interview: Dr. Christian Guilleminault on UARS

July 21, 2011

This month, I interview Dr. Christian Guilleminault of Stanford University, who is one of the pioneers in sleep apnea diagnosis and treatment. We’re going to focus on Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS), which he discovered.

Here are some of the questions we covered:

- Describe to us what UARS is and how it’s different from OSA?

- Why is the AHI limited when it comes to picking up UARS.

- How to diagnose UARS: Esophageal manometry vs. nasal cannula.

- How UARS patients have intact nervous systems, whereas sleep apnea (OSA) patients have diminished nervous systems, and what may cause progression from UARS to OSA?

- How do you treat patients with UARS? How is it different from treating sleep apnea?

- What are the dental options for UARS?

- How common is UARS in children and how can they be treated?

- And much more…

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