Sleep Bytes & Blog

A Pill for Sleep Apnea? Hey, sleep warrior!  When you think about treating sleep apnea, the idea of using a drug, or a pill, might raise some eyebrows. After all, sleep apnea is primarily a mechanical problem—how can a pill help keep our airways open at night? Despite my initial skepticism, I'm genuinely excited to dive into the emerging data on AD109, a new medication that's currently under investigation. Let’s dive in. As many of you know, CPAP therapy, while effective, is not universally tolerated. And let's be honest, even among those who do tolerate it, it’s not always liked. With a significant number of people still going untreated each year, we need to do better. That's why exploring new treatment options is crucial for our field. AD109 represents a novel approach. It's an oral medication designed to stimulate the nerves that control the muscles keeping our airway open while we sleep. By activating these nerves, AD109 aims to maintain a clear airway throughout the night, potentially reducing the severity of sleep apnea. AD109 combines two medications in a nasal spray format—a decongestant and a muscle relaxant targeting the muscles that collapse the upper airway. It's designed to decrease the physical obstructions that cause sleep apnea by minimizing nasal congestion and relaxing the muscles that can block the airway during sleep. The Mariposa research study assessed the efficacy and safety of AD109 in adults with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea. The results were quite promising: AD109 significantly reduced the number of apnea events per hour of sleep compared to a placebo, by about 45%.  Participants also reported improved sleep quality, reduced daytime sleepiness, and an enhanced overall quality of life.  These benefits could be life-changing for those who struggle with CPAP machines. Though some did experience mild nasal discomfort and an unpleasant taste, these side effects were generally mild. For those intrigued by this new treatment and wondering about participation in ongoing research, more information is available on Apnimed's website where you can learn more about the study and how you might get involved. So, while the initial results from the Mariposa study are promising, it's important to remember that the path from research to reality can be lengthy. Clinical trials are thorough and meticulous by design, ensuring that new treatments are both effective and safe for widespread use. If AD109 continues to show promise in its subsequent trials, we are still looking at a timeline that would extend to 2026 or later before it becomes available to the public. So don’t put your CPAP away just yet. Patience is key in the development of new medical treatments, as rigorous testing is essential to bring truly beneficial therapies to our community. Thanks for being here. I’ll see you next week!

Sleep Better, Travel Further Good or bad sleep during travel can affect everything from your mood and energy levels to your immune system and overall health. As a healthcare provider, I travel to Saipan (Northern Marianas Islands) every year to care for medically underserved patients. Over time, I have gained valuable experience in sleeping across time zones and have picked up some useful tips along the way. In today’s video, I will be sharing how I prepare for my trip, along with some of my favorite sleep-promoting travel products. These are truly products that I use and love with no affiliations or kick-backs. Most of the products can be easily found on Amazon. Check it out! If you would like to join me on my adventures, I will be documenting my experience on Instagram at @kimberlymdsleep. Come see what all the buzz is about.

3 Ways to Use a Sleep Tracker The impact of sleep deprivation and sleep disorders is real – they both can negatively impact the heart, the brain, and even our weight. Sleep is as important as diet and exercise. So if we can improve sleep health through wrist-worn feedback, I am in favor. But be cautious about putting too much emphasis on data that is not scientifically proven, especially if it can cause harm. Fretting about sleep scores and precise sleep stages without understanding the accuracy or science behind the numbers isn’t useful. It’s classic fake news, even if there is a version of the truth in there somewhere. The truth is, we don’t have much control over our specific sleep stages. Focusing on the intricate details of whether we’re getting enough of one stage or another can be counterproductive. For example, “light sleep” is necessary and normal and does not suggest poor sleep quality. A sleep tracker collects large amounts of data each night and generally uses movement and heart rate to determine sleep stages using formulas that aren’t available to the public. This makes it impossible to confirm the accuracy of data or verify if conclusions are based on the best science.  For example, if you have a disorder like sleep apnea, your tracker may underestimate your sleep time due to body jerks or overestimate sleep time because it doesn’t pick up associated brief awakenings that occur when breathing stops. So how can sleep trackers be helpful? Here are 3 ways:  Help you get more sleep. Prioritizing sleep can be difficult. A sleep tracker can help you stay focused on your goal. Besides just looking at a single night's sleep time, I recommend focusing on your weekly average, and try to keep it in the 7-8 hour range.  Help you keep a regular sleep schedule. Going to bed and getting up at approximately the same time every day contributes to better sleep. By monitoring bedtimes and wake times, your tracker can help you stick to a routine schedule. Try to keep your bedtime and waketime within a 30-minute window, 7 nights per week. And the third way I believe a sleep tracker can be helpful is getting feedback on your general sleep quality in different situations. It’s helpful to learn how your body sleeps after a night of heavy drinking, or better yet, meditating. While the data on specific sleep stages is difficult to trust as 100% accurate, it can be helpful to look at trends. For example, I find that if I am exercising regularly, my “deep sleep” percentages tend to increase. I also think it is fun to see how increased stress affects my overall sleep score.  Sleep tracking is a widely available and relatively inexpensive way to help people learn about sleep and monitor trends in sleep time. Just be cautious not to let your phone’s algorithm determine how you truly feel.  Thanks for being here. I’ll see you next week.

Quality sleep helps new habits stick Hey, sleep warriors. Happy New Year! I love this time of year. It’s a fresh start. And everyone is talking about it - It’s a perfect time to commit to improving your sleep. So, if you really want to make your new habits stick this year, it’s worth acknowledging the powerful role that sleep can play in helping you achieve your goals. In today’s video, I’m going to briefly discuss three important ways that sleep deprivation sabotages even the best-laid plans for improved health. Better decisions. Adequate, quality sleep helps us make better decisions. When we don’t sleep enough, the frontal lobes of our brain are affected more than other parts of our brain, and it's this region responsible for judgment and impulse control. So, if you want to avoid the leftover Holiday goodies and instead opt for a trip to the gym, be sure to get enough sleep. Inadequate sleep is directly related to weight gain. This is because sleep deprivation leads to changes in appetite and satiety hormones. In other words, when you are sleep deprived, your body actually signals you to eat more, and it's less likely to tell you that you are full. It also increases cravings for sugary and fatty foods - so combine this with the lack of impulse control I just talked about, and you are on the fast track to weight gain. Inadequate sleep leads to low energy and motivation. This means it will take more willpower to exercise and take on challenging tasks. And if you haven’t heard, willpower is finite, and it isn’t effective at changing habits in the long run. Instead, adequate sleep allows us to feel vital and energetic, which causes us to naturally want to make healthy decisions, including exercising, choosing healthy foods, and feeling motivated to do hard things. If you want to learn more about how sleep impacts optimal daily function, check out my masterclass entitled “Why We Sleep”, and for the next week, it is available for only $9.97. That’s 50% off the regular price! But don’t delay, this deal is only good for the next week (ends January 12th, 2023). I encourage you to use education to help put your new habits in motion.  Thanks for being here. I’ll see you next week.

Top 3 Tips to Help Prioritize Sleep During the Holidays Hey, sleep warriors. Are you ready for the holidays? If you're like me, keeping sleep as a priority during this time of year can be extra difficult, but like most hard things, it's worth it because when you get adequate sleep, everything about the holidays is better. So, if all the healthy practices that you can invest in at this time of year, perhaps the most important is sleep. Sleep is essential for a balanced mood, weight control, good decisions, and reduced stress, among a number of other health benefits, like warding off sickness. So, what can you do if holiday parties, family gatherings, shopping, and more are taking away from your precious sleep? I'm gonna give you my top three tips on how to prioritize healthy sleep during this festive time of year. Preserve your normal sleep routines, including a set bedtime and wake time. Even though staying up until 2:00 AM to finish that puzzle is tempting at the time, the resulting sleep deprivation will impact your mood the following day, something no family member needs. So, realistically, try to limit staying up or sleeping in to only one hour later than your usual bedtime or wake time. Expose yourself to sunlight or daylight (if living in Oregon) every single day, preferably with a walk or other outdoor exercise. The light and activity will help set your circadian rhythm, and the fresh air, well, it just does the body good. Avoid napping, even if you had a short night. Daytime sleep can make it more difficult to fall asleep at your regular bedtime at night. So, if you are fighting the afternoon slug, it may just be a good time for that afternoon walk. So, I hope that you can get some rest this holiday season. And speaking of risk, there will be no sleep byte next week as I will be getting some rest of my own. See you in the new year.

Are you a mouth breather at night? Hey, Sleep Warriors, If you find yourself frantically reaching for a glass of water first thing in the morning, or perhaps even during the night, then you are likely opening your mouth during sleep. If so, you aren't alone. Half of all beds in the US are supporting a mouth breather. Now, mouth breathing during sleep generally happens when people can't breathe well through their noses. And mouth breathing can lead to a number of different problems, such as dry mouth, drooling, bad breath, dental cavities, snoring, even high blood pressure, and daytime fatigue. It's no wonder lots of attention is being paid to the problems associated with mouth breathing over the past couple of years. And this may be in part due to James Nestor's book, Breath, where he participated in a research study at Stanford University, where he plugged his nose and started noticing problems after just ten days. So what do you do if you're one of that 50% of people who mouth breathe during sleep? Here are my top three tips for decreasing nighttime mouth breathing. Troubleshoot why you aren't breathing well through your nose. Do you have allergies, a deviated septum, or sinus problems? Try a nasal saline rinse before bed and see if that helps, or talk to your doctor about an antihistamine for allergies. Try sleeping at a slight incline. For some people, they breathe fine through their nose during the day, but they plug up at night. If this is you, gravity may be working against you, and you can raise the head of your bed a little bit, and that may help. If you do breathe well through your nose, but just have a habit of mouth breathing, consider using a physical product to help keep your mouth shut at night or block the airflow, such as a chin strap, mouth tape, or a newer, better option, the Somnoseal, which is available on my website. Mouth breathing can negatively impact daily life in many ways. If you're interested in learning more, I recommend you check out James Nesser's book Breath, where he shares about what happened to him when he plugged his nose for several weeks. Thanks for being here. I'll see you next week. Bye.

Can Weighted Blankets Help Insomnia? Hey, sleep warriors. Are you looking forward to cozying up by the fire this winter in a warm blanket? Should that blanket be a weighted one? Weighted blankets work by providing a deep pressure touch, which delivers greater relaxation. Then light touch alone. Think of it as a big bear hug compared to a friendly pat on the back. This pressure stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, or the rest and digest part of our body, and it delivers a calming effect similar to a deep breath. Using weight to calm the nervous system has long been known to help anxiety, especially in kids. But now, adults and people with insomnia... they're seeing the benefits too. A 2020 Swedish study looked at the effects of a weighted blanket on insomnia and daytime functioning. After four weeks, 60% of patients using a weighted blanket noted improved sleep and less daytime sleepiness, and after a year, 78% of participants using the weighted blanket reported near the resolution of their insomnia altogether. Now, we need more studies that confirm these kinds of outcomes, but I'm impressed with these early results. Now, a weighted blanket may not be for everyone. For example, people with neuromuscular conditions or weakness of the chest wall or even untreated severe sleep apnea probably shouldn't use a weighted blanket. And some trauma victims may even experience a worsening of their anxiety when weighted down by a blanket. But how much weight is enough? Well, a general rule of thumb is to take your weight in pounds and divide it by ten. For example, a 150-pound person may look for a 15-pound blanket, whereas a 200-pound person would look for a 20-pound blanket, and so on. So overall, weighted blankets are generally safe and offer a medication-free option to improve sleep quality. If nothing else, they can decrease anxiety, which is something we can all benefit, given the past couple of years. Thanks for being here. I'll see you next week.

Break out the stew and bread  Hey, sleep warriors. Are you looking forward to breaking out the stew and bread and getting cozy as the end of daylight savings time begins? As a sleep specialist, it's a lot more fun to talk about falling back than it is about springing forward. But did you know that there's been a lot of controversy around moving the clocks in recent years? In fact, Congress has recommended keeping daylight savings time all year, while most sleep specialists recommend sticking to standard time 365. Now, while I do miss the long days of summer, I love that people are getting an extra hour of sleep. At least I thought they were. So let's hear from some others about how they spent that precious extra hour: "I did an extra project." "I went to my parents' house, and we watched another movie." "I forgot about the change and got up too early." "I spent my extra hour doing homework for school." "Well, sadly enough, I was just cleaning and taking care of my dogs." "I also forgot about it entirely.""I slept." "I organized my sock drawer." Interesting. Thanks for joining me. I'll see you next week.

Exploding Head Syndrome Hey, sleep warriors. Exploding Head Syndrome is a type of sleep disorder in which you hear a loud noise or an explosive crashing sound in your head as you're trying to fall asleep. The sound isn't heard by anyone else, and it typically lasts less than a second. Fortunately, it isn't dangerous, but it certainly can be alarming. The episode typically happens suddenly, either when you're beginning to fall asleep at night or when you're falling back to sleep after awakening during the night. Now, it isn't clear what causes this abrupt sound, but it has been associated with sleep deprivation, stress, and some substances, such as too much alcohol. Here are my top three tips for dealing with an exploding head. Number one, be sure that you're getting enough sleep at night. This is an average of 7 hours for most adults. Number two, put away electronics and engage in relaxing activities before bed. This could be gentle stretching, deep breathing, or reading under a dim light. Number three, if you do experience a regular exploding head, keep a calendar of when the events occur. This will allow you to identify any triggers, and you can share it with your doctor to better quantify the frequency. Fortunately, an exploding head is not dangerous, and it typically doesn't require any specific tests or treatments. That's your spooky sleep bite for this week. I'll see you next time.