Dr. Noel Lopez, board certified in Family Medicine, developed obstructive sleep apnea, a condition where a person stops breathing repeatedly while sleeping. The lack of oxygen wakes them up for a second or two, sometimes hundreds of times each night. People with sleep apnea never achieve quality sleep or reach a point where they actually get rest.

As Dr. Lopez studied apnea and other sleep disorders, he realized that many of the people who came to his office had problems sleeping. About five patients a day complained of insomnia. “A lot of illnesses can affect your sleep. But I’d venture to say most sleep disturbances are caused by external factors — pain, depression, medication misuse or substances like caffeine.” Movement disorders and pain can inhibit sleep.

People who do not get quality sleep (at least three REM periods a night) don’t function well while awake, Lopez said.  Their productivity declines, they gain weight and they fall asleep at work, anywhere, because they are so sleep deprived.  Sleep deprivation can lead to elevated adrenaline levels, diabetes, increased risk of strokes and heart attacks, as well as relationship problems.

“Sleep disorders are very costly for business,” Dr. Lopez said, “when you think of staff who damage equipment, can’t concentrate to do their work or cause car accidents.  I can think of four major accidents by truck drivers who fell asleep at the wheel.” Loss of life, cargos destroyed, liability costs and hospital bills result.  Lopez knows of persons who lost their jobs because they slept at work, before their medical condition was diagnosed and treated.

In Lopez’s opinion, sleep medicine belongs in the realm of primary care, the first line of defense.  He became board certified in sleep medicine in 2014. His wife, Kathleen Lopez, RN, suggested he open a sleep lab, which she would manage. The Palm Valley Sleep Lab, located across the parking lot from the medical practice, opened with provisional approval in 2015 with full approval from American Academy of Sleep Medicine slated for Spring 2016.

The entry to the Palm Valley Sleep Lab resembles that of a spa, soothing and calming. Inside are eight sleep suites that look like comfortable windowless hotel rooms, except these have Sleep Number beds and discreet electronic equipment from which monitoring wires will be attached to the patient. The tests cover sleep apnea, parasomnias, periodic leg movements, excessive drowsiness and narcolepsy.  Most patients spend two nights here, with the first night devoted to monitoring and the second to initiating treatment according to medical protocols.  In some cases, when sleep disturbances are so severe that the registered polysomnographers on the staff consider them to be life threatening, treatment will begin after several hours of monitoring. The new lab has between one and three patients per night.

The best long-term way to treat sleep apnea is through weight loss, Lopez said.  The best short term treatment uses a C-PAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine that keeps the airway open to allow undisturbed sleep. Once sleep disturbances are treated, many patients find their blood pressure is easier to control, and surgical risks decline.  The patient’s spouse gets to sleep more comfortably, too, once the snoring and gasping for breath have stopped.

But sleep disorders are widespread. “I’ve seen physicians, professors, attorneys, businessmen and women whose lives have been impacted by their severe sleep disturbances. It’s very gratifying to see them come in refreshed (after treatment has begun), and they can function again,” Lopez said.  He mentioned that many of his patients who thought that they had ADD in fact had sleep apnea.

Lopez said about half his sleep medicine patients have apnea and the other half have insomnia, with a small number of other conditions.  Insomnia is often caused by stress, anxiety, caffeine and bright lights before bedtime.  Patients feel like they don’t get enough sleep or sleep well. “The quality of sleep decreases as people age,” Lopez said, referring to REM sleep. And if people nap during the day, they are not going to sleep as long at night.

Lopez said most sleep doctors are pulmonologists, and many psychiatrists deal with sleep disorders as part of depression. “I think all physicians should get trained in sleep medicine.  If people are having a problem sleeping, they need to talk to their primary care doctor who can refer them to sleep specialist, if they need to evaluated and treated.”

For more information, see palmvalleysleep.com.