Sleep Clinic

What is Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) ?

OSA is a condition when the upper airway is repeatedly obstructed either partially or completely during sleep. This leads to snoring and recurrent pauses or reduction in breathing. This disruption can cause a drop in blood oxygen levels and interfere with sleep. Symptoms of OSA include loud snoring, night-time breathing pauses and excessive daytime sleepiness despite adequate sleep. Sleep studies are necessary for diagnosis of OSA. They are generally divided into inpatient and outpatient studies. An evaluation by doctor is required to determine which sleep study is suitable for you.

What are some treatment options for Obstructive Sleep Apnea?

A breathing assistance medical device called Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP)  is the gold standard effective treatment for OSA. The CPAP therapy works by quietly delivering gently pressurised air to your airway via a mask. This keeps your airway continuously patent and allows you to breathe easily during sleep.

Other treatment strategies include weight loss, surgery, oral appliance therapy and positional therapy.

What is narcolepsy?

Narcolepsy is one of the causes of excessive daytime sleepiness and can greatly affect a person’s quality of life. It is characterised by overwhelming daytime sleepiness despite adequate sleep and sleep attacks, causing patients to fall asleep unexpectedly at inappropriate time and places. Diagnosis requires a detailed medical history and physical examination and this is followed by Polysomnogram (PSG) and Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT). Symptoms can be managed with lifestyle modification and medications.

What is insomnia?

Insomnia is one of the most common sleep conditions in the general population and can affect people of all age groups. For some, it means difficulty in falling asleep. For others, it can be a struggle to stay asleep with frequent awakenings in the night, problems getting back to sleep or waking up too early in the morning with unrefreshing sleep. This inadequate or poor quality sleep can interfere with normal daytime functioning. 

Episodes of insomnia that last a few days to a few weeks at a time are called transient and short-term insomnia respectively. Chronic insomnia lasts for a month or longer.

What causes insomnia?

There are many causes of insomnia. It can be due to a single trigger or result from a combination of factors. Causes can range from psychological (such as stress), lifestyle (such as caffeine, nicotine and alcohol consumption, shift workers) and environmental factors (such as noise, temperature changes, excessive light) to associations with underlying psychiatric conditions (such as depression, anxiety) or physical health problems (wide range of medical conditions such as acid reflux, thyroid conditions, chronic pain, heart failure, respiratory disorders) or medications that interfere with sleep.

How is insomnia diagnosed?

You may need to visit our sleep medicine specialist to find out what's causing your insomnia. It will be helpful to bring a record of your sleep patterns.

The process of making a diagnosis may include:

• Your health history. Your doctor will consider any health conditions, any medicines you're taking, and stressful life changes that could be causing insomnia.
• Your sleep history. Be prepared to describe your insomnia with details such as how long it's been going on, what you think could be contributing to it, and what your sleep is like, such as whether you can barely get to sleep at all or if you wake up too early. You may be asked to keep a sleep diary showing sleeping and waking patterns for a week or two.
• Physical exam. The doctor will look for any physical reasons that could cause sleep problems.
• Sleep study. You may need to sleep overnight in a sleep lab to monitor your sleep.