We know about diet, exercise, stress reduction and the dangers of smoking.
But many of us don’t realize how important sleep is to preventing obesity,
diabetes,
cancer,
heart disease, depression and other illnesses.
“It is a deceptively simple message – that to get healthy you
need to get sleep,” said
Ahmed El-Bershawi, M.D, a board certified sleep specialist and service
chief of the Hoag Sleep Center in Irvine. “Unfortunately, chronic insufficient sleep is a public health epidemic.”
For two decades, the
Judy & Richard Voltmer Sleep Center at Hoag in Newport Beach has helped more than 5,000 patients get the sleep
they need to improve their health and quality of life.
This spring,
Hoag Health Center Irvine will begin offering the same cutting-edge services for sleep disorders
currently offered in
Newport Beach, including cognitive behavioral therapy, biofeedback and relaxation techniques
to help people regain the rhythm of natural sleep.
The new Sleep Center will offer the same access to registered polysomnographic
technologists, bedroom labs, outpatient facilities, and the advanced diagnostic
and treatment technologies that are currently available only in Newport Beach.
“Medicine has identified more than 100
sleep disorders,” Dr. El-Bershawi said. “Some are well-known, like sleep apnea
and insomnia. But many patients with sleep problems don’t realize
that they have it and can be fully treated."
Sleep problems are so misunderstood that fewer than 6 percent of people
with sleep issues bring them up when they talk to their doctors about
other things that ail them. They figure that a health condition keeps
them from sleeping, when often it’s the other way around.
"Sleep is a function of the brain, so when we sleep, our brains do,
not our bodies.” said Dr. El-Bershawi. “A sleep specialist
can ‘teach’ your brain how to fall asleep effectively.”
A specially tailored program might involve biofeedback, cognitive behavioral
therapy and other medical interventions to restore the most restorative
part of your health routine.
What it will not include is a reliance on sleeping pills.
“When people self-medicate by using over-the-counter sleep aids or
rely on a ‘night cap,’ to help them sleep, they are actually
doing more harm than good,” Dr. El-Bershawi said. “Sleep is
a vital, but overlooked, aspect of health. By expanding the sleep center
services into Irvine, we will help South County residents regain control
over their health, their mental function and their well-being.”
For more information, call 888-807-9973.