Sleep is very important. That is a fact nearly every American knows. Because our lives have become so busy, we don’t have enough time in the day to get enough of it. The sad thing is that even if everybody wanted to take the time to get enough sleep, most of us would not be able to get a good night’s sleep due to an underlying disorder that affects millions of Americans.

Sleep experts recommend at least 8 hours of sleep a night for adults to function properly, yet NSF's 2000 Sleep in America omnibus poll found that, on average, adults sleep just under 7 hours during the work week. In fact, one third (33%) of adults sleep only 6-1/2 hours or less nightly. Even more discouraging: a full 45% of adults agree that they will sleep less in order to accomplish more. Given these facts, the quality of the sleep that we do get becomes even more important.

Having a sleep disorder can affect the quality of our work and our lives. Excessive sleepiness causes accidents on the road. There is help available!

Lakeland Health Services offers sleep diagnostics in its Sleep Disorders Center. How do you know if you require a sleep study? If you have any of the following symptoms, you should talk to your physician about getting a sleep study:

- Snoring (this is a good question for someone who has observed you sleeping).
- Cessation of breathing for extended periods of time while sleeping (another question for someone who observes you sleeping)
- Waking up gasping for air.
- Daytime sleepiness.
- Requiring daytime naps nearly every day.
- Feeling drowsy, especially after work, in your vehicle, or during quite times or in meetings.
- Depression
- High Blood Pressure
- Overweight
- Congestive Heart Failure
- Smoker
- Difficulty waking up in the morning.
- Waking up with a headache.
- Not feeling rested even after 8 hours of sleep.
- Needing large amounts of caffeine to stay awake.
- Difficulty falling asleep.

These are many of the symptoms that you may exhibit if you have a sleep disorder. CLICK HERE to get a list of other possible symptoms from the National Sleep Foundation.

If you would like, we would be happy to provide you with a free consultation with one of our physicians.

So why should you get a sleep study? Besides increasing your quality of life, proper treatment will help you to avoid many serious health problems, most notably heart failure, which is inevitable with untreated sleep apnea. If you don’t get the proper amount of sleep, it is detrimental to your health, causing depression and problems in your personal life. We encourage you to visit The National Sleep Foundation website for more information on sleep disorders and links to other useful websites.

In order to have a sleep study done at Lakeland Health Services, you must obtain a referral from a physician or you can visit one of our physicians. They simply fax us a referral (763-512-1560) for the sleep study with your contact information and we will take care of the rest. We will contact you to answer any questions and set-up a time for you to come in for your study. For more detail on our referral process, go to scheduling a sleep study.

Once you have scheduled your sleep study, you will need to arrive at the time that you have scheduled. In most cases, you will need to come in to our facility between 7 and 9 pm. If you are a night shift worker, we may perform your study during your normal sleeping time. We will explain what we will be doing and set you up for the study. Satellite TV is available for you to watch until you fall asleep if you wish. We have high quality queen-sized beds and desks in each room. We have handicapped accessible bathrooms and showers available for you to use the morning after your stay with us. In the morning, we serve a free continental breakfast for your convenience. In the event that you may have to stay through the next day for additional testing (less than 10% of all people need this), we will serve a lunch also. Because of this possibility of the day study, we ask that you make arrangements to be available for continuous testing the following day if necessary. We recommend that you bring all your toiletries such as toothbrush, toothpaste, comb/brush, mouthwash, hairspray, dental floss, etc. You are also welcome to bring your favorite pillow, blanket, sleeping clothes, or anything else that helps you get to sleep.

You will spend the night with us to observe your sleep. Your study should be done by 8 am the next morning (unless you stay for a day study also). We are equipped to set you up with most of your treatment needs in the morning after your study should you qualify for treatment. These options will be discussed with you at length before we decide which therapy will work best for you.

CLICK HERE to see pictures of our sleeping rooms.