The Sleep Forum and World Sleep Society have come together to produce TEN podcasts about sleep as we countdown to World Sleep Day on March 13, 2010.
In this podcast, Doug Green, Publisher of The Sleep Forum and Allan O’Bryan, Executive Director of The Sleep Society talk with guest speaker Dr. Russell Rosenberg, director and CEO of NeuroTrials Research and the Atlanta School of Sleep Medicine and Technology.
O’Bryan begins the podcast by explaining that “world sleep society is a non-profit, membership based organization representing sleep researchers and clinicians around the world focusing on awareness and education. We use World Sleep Day, one of our biggest events, as opportunity for our membership reach out to the public and highlight the importance of sleep.”
O’Bryan reminds listeners that “World Sleep Day is designed to raise awareness of sleep as a human privilege that is often compromised by the habits of modern life.”
When asked about his definition of quality sleep, Rosenberg replies that if "a person has had adequate sleep, they will wake up feeling refreshed and alert throughout the day. It is not normal to be sleepy during the day. In many cases, people just try to do too much in one day hoping there is something more than a 24 hour day."
Of course, being sleepy during the day is not something that should be ignored. Rosenberg described the disorder, narcolepsy, as a neurological sleep disorder that causes excessive daytime sleepiness. He describes narcolepsy type one, with cateplexy, where patients will feel a loss of muscle tone. Narcolepsy type one or two can be accompanied by symptoms including sleep paralysis, hallucinations and vivid dreams.
Narcolepsy frequently emerges in second decade of life, in the teen years. Rosenberg recommends that if your teen is experiencing excessive daytime sleepiness, contact a local sleep clinic or sleep specialist or start with your primary care physician.
Rosenberg tells the listeners that Neurotrials "conducts research in a variety of areas that have to do with the brain." The purpose of the research is to develop new medicines and devices that can better help people with sleep disorders to live a normal life.
Rosenberg was excited when sharing how new narcolepsy drugs are now being developed that target the neuron orexin, also known as hypocretin, that help a person function better during the day. He mentions the recently approved wake promoting drugs for narcolepsy, Sunosi and Wakix, and how he believes there will be others available for narcolepsy in the next five years. Rosenberg continued to talk about Lemborexant or Dayvigo, an orexin antagonist, one of the most recent FDA approved drugs for insomnia.
Rosenberg reminds the listeners that clinical trials are totally voluntary and, in some cases, you might be compensated. He said for some it is a very rewarding experience and a chance to find out more about your disease. If you are interested in looking into a clinical trial, please go to www.clinicaltrials.gov.
Rosenberg ends the conversation by commenting how he felt technology used to measure sleep outside the laboratory is the next forefront of sleep health and sleep medicine. "We already have devices that detect motion, heart rate, breathing and brain wave activity. It would be great to study patients in their home environment over the course a few weeks rather than in a laboratory."
