Hospital sleep lab helping troops get shuteye

Published May 9, 2011
By Airman 1st Class Jack Sanders
JBER Public Affairs

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- Sleeping through the night can be a difficult task for anyone, but for individuals with sleep disorders, it can be almost impossible.

Sleep disorders come in many forms; the most common, according to www.sleepfoundation.org, are restless legs syndrome, insomnia, sleep apnea, sleepwalking, snoring, teeth grinding and difficulty breathing.

Those suffering from severe sleep-related issues can schedule an appointment at the sleep lab at the 673d Medical Group at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson hospital.

Sleep labs are common across the U.S., however, this is the only Air-Force-run sleep lab in the Pacific Air Forces, said Air Force Staff Sgt. Stanley Manning, 673d MDG sleep lab technician.

The lab's technicians monitor patients in their sleep. Technicians closely watch brain-wave activity, along with several other bodily functions, like heart rate and breathing.

After the study is concluded, all of the technicians' information goes to a neurologist who will determine if the patient has a sleep disorder. For some patients, multiple trips to the sleep lab are common.

People with sleep disorders can have multiple problems while awake as well. Not being alert or falling asleep during daytime hours can be a large problem for military members.
Some sleep conditions, like sleep apnea, can even be fatal if left untreated, said Tech. Sgt. Cynthia Palmer, 673d MDG sleep lab technician.

Patients wishing to be seen by the sleep lab must first pass through a small screening process, she said.

"When the clinic first opened, we were getting people left and right until they learned how to skim them out," Palmer said.

"They said, 'We're going to look for daytime sleepiness, very bad snoring and witnessed episodes of non-breathing.' We had a lot of patients (before that) that had nothing wrong with them."

Going to the sleep lab for treatment differs from most trips to the hospital.

"Most people are anxious because they're sleeping in a different environment," Manning said.

"When they see all the wires they're going to have to wear, they get all freaked out, but once you sit them in the bed they pretty much relax.

There's really nothing to be anxious about. It's a pretty easy test to pass - all you have to do is sleep."

The technicians watch brain waves for patterns typical with sleep and breathing patterns with a sleep mask as well as sensors that respond to chest and stomach rise and fall during their monitoring period.

The lab techs can even tell which stage of sleep the patients are in depending on the brain's alpha waves.

Sleep lab technicians spend time with each patient explaining the process of the procedures and why they're doing them.

"We try to make (patients) as comfortable as they can be. (Sometimes) we have to ask them to come back again and bring some kind of sleep aid, or ask a doctor to give them something to help them relax or give them a sleep aid," Palmer said.

Patients visiting the lab are walked through the process before their test periods to take away some anxieties, as well as answer any questions they may have.

"We need to see everybody go through all the stages of sleep, and the stage that we're most concerned with is while they're laying on their back going through a REM cycle.

That's there dreaming stage," Manning said. "That's when your body is totally relaxed, so if you're going to have problems it's going to happen then.

We ask that you sleep on your back, and I know it's the most uncomfortable position for most people, but when you're on your back and you're relaxed that's when all your breathing problems are more prone to happen."