Sleep dreams: seven of 10 Americans need better sleep. Sleep disorders are more common--and more dangerous--than many people realize.

• Author: Held, Shari
• Position: Cover story

SLEEP MEDICINE, ONE OF the newest medical subspecialties, is garnering a lot of attention these days. It's no wonder, when, according to the National Sleep Foundation, nearly seven out of every 10 Americans experience frequent sleep problems. Many people aren't even aware that poor sleep is causing their fatigue and other health problems.

Despite the fact that an estimated 90 percent of Americans with sleep disorders could sleep better, feel better and improve their overall health with treatment, sleep disorders are often under-diagnosed and their severity misunderstood.

The predominance of sleep disorders has significant consequences for business. The National Sleep Foundation estimates sleep disorders cost more than $100 billion a year in lost productivity, medical expenses, sick leave and property damage. Some industries are impacted more than others. Approximately 30 percent of truck drivers have sleep apnea--and don't know it until they've had "the big accident," says Dr. Marvin E. Vollmer, who is co-director of the Sleep/Wake Disorders Clinic at Community Health Network in Indianapolis and diplomate of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Further, approximately 25 percent of the workforce works the night shift or rotating shifts, both of which are known to wreak havoc with sleep patterns and are the subject of ongoing research.

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"Discoveries in the research lab often have a very quick application to the clinic, which is one reason [sleep medicine[ is such an exciting area," Vollmer says. "And, why it is so dynamic from a business point of view. As people did more research into sleep disorders, they started finding out that they explained a lot of medical problems that we had no answers for before."

Community Health Network has 24 beds in its five Indianapolis-area clinics. Around Indiana many sleep labs and clinics have opened to diagnose and treat a variety of sleep disorders. Here is a look at some of them and their treatments.

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SLEEP APNEA

Sleep apnea, estimated to impact five to 10 percent of Americans, is the most common sleep disorder diagnosed in sleep labs. Once the domain of males, the disorder now affects both sexes almost equally It also affects the very young, even infants.

Obstructive sleep apnea, the most common kind, occurs when the windpipe partially or totally collapses during sleep, depriving the person of oxygen. This is followed by an arousal reflex that wakes up the body so it can resume breathing. This cycle can occur hundreds of times each night, making a restful sleep impossible. People with sleep apnea, as with other sleep disorders, feel sleepy and fatigued regardless of how many hours of "sleep" they get.

"If your spouse has sleep apnea, you don't sleep any better than they do," says Valene Roark, manager of Cardiopulmonary Services and Sleep Disorders Lab for Daviess Community Hospital in Washington. "You hear the snoring and the gasping for air, or their legs may jerk." Spouses are often the ones who initiate the trip to the doctor. Daviess opened its two-bed sleep lab in 2006. In its first year it serviced 227 patients. Last year that number increased to 285 patients.

"During an event, when you are obstructing, your oxygen level drops in your bloodstream and your brain gets less oxygen," says Pat Wise, director, Sleep Disorder Center for South Bend Memorial Hospital. "Oxygen levels can fall from 99 or 98 to the 40s, although they usually fall to the low 80s and high 70s. When you start breathing again, your brain is re-oxygenated. But slowly [sleep apnea] works on your blood pressure. It can create high blood pressure and stroke. People don't understand that sleep apnea is not all about being tired. It's also about their...