May is Better Sleep Month, and there is no better time to analyze your own sleep patterns. According to Dr. Mikilitus, the medical community is only now beginning to understand how completely connected sleep apnea is to other serious medical problems such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and stroke.

In order to diagnose sleep disorders, patients are asked to participate in an overnight sleep study. During the study, the patient spends the night in a sleep laboratory while a sleep technologist monitors their progress throughout the night. Electrodes gently connected to the scalp, beside the eyes, under the chin, and on the chest legs monitor all parameters during your sleep which will aid in an accurate diagnosis of your condition. The electrodes record brain activity, muscle activity, heart rhythms and breathing activity during sleep. The test is helpful in evaluating patients who snore, who stop breathing in sleep, or who have excessive leg or body movements at night.

"People are very comfortable with our sleep technologists and the sleep laboratory," Dr. Mikilitus said of the experience. "The laboratory looks like a hotel room, and often people will say they sleep better here. It is a very conducive environment to sleep."

B.J. Fancher has been a patient at West Georgia Sleep Disorders Center since September, and says she notices a dramatic difference in her life since starting treatment.

"I was extremely fatigued and sleeping all the time and even had trouble getting my kids off to school. The first night in the sleep laboratory at the Sleep Disorders Center, they hooked me up to all kinds of monitors and I fell asleep within three minutes."

Fancher was fitted with a CPAP machine as part of her treatment, and she began noticing a difference within a week. CPAP stands for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure and works as a mask fitted over the nose. The device keeps the airways open to keep the patients breathing cycle from stopping and starting.

"What shocked me was waking up in the morning alert," Fancher said of the treatment. "It was easy to get up, and the mask is not disruptive to my life."

Dr. Mikilitus says sleep disorders have been long overlooked as a potential for causing problems. "It is important to recognize how important sleep is to the patient's well-being. There is an overwhelming number of patients suffering from sleep disorders who don't know it, but there is help out there. The treatments for sleep disorders are well tolerated, safe and have a dramatic effect on quality of life."

As May is Better Sleep Month, West Georgia Sleep Disorders Center recommends a few tips for getting a good night's sleep: avoid daytime napping and avoid drinking alcohol and eating spicy food right before bedtime. Exercise can help promote sleep but should not be done close to bedtime. Limit sound and noise in the bedroom to promote a healthy sleeping environment, and maintain consistent sleep/wake times, even on the weekends.

If you think you may have a sleep disorder, the West Georgia Sleep Disorders Center provides a self assessment test on their Web site, www.cannot-sleep.com. The site also provides more information about the various disorders and treatments provided by the Center.

The Peachtree City location is located at 19 Eastbrook Bend, Suite 200, with other offices in Carrollton and Douglasville. Hours of operation vary by location; call 770-631-4600 for more information.

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