Do you wake up and often feel like you haven’t even slept? Do you find yourself dozing off at inappropriate or inconvenient times? If any of these sounds like you, you might be one of the millions with undiagnosed obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), more than 18 million of us have this disorder but an estimated 93% of women and 82% of men with the disorder have never been diagnosed. It often takes a partner, bedmate, or roommate to notice that the person has stopped breathing before the connection is made and before steps are being taken to identify the condition. Unfortunately, without diagnosis, there is no treatment and untreated sleep apnea can have serious long term health consequences.
Sleep Renewal was launched in April 2016 after intensive research into how the importance of good sleep was connected to so may health concerns, that majority of us are affected with and often ignore. The first branches to have these sleep studies available to existing, and potentially new, patients were; Fourways, Illovo Sandton, Morningside Sandton, Parkhurst and the West Rand in Gauteng, and in the Western Cape at Cape Quarter Claremont and Constantia
Health Renewal has recently paid a lot of attention to the important subject of sleep breathing disorders. Two of our newsletters in 2015 were dedicated to describing Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS) in detail. There is overwhelming evidence that both OSA and UARS are huge contributing factors in disorders such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease. However, researchers have found yet another reason why people with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) should get tested and treated for the disease. According to a recent study published in the journal SLEEP, patients with OSA syndrome demonstrated reduced brain gray matter concentration. "Gray matter" refers to the cerebral cortex, where most information processing in the brain takes place.
Poor sleep quality and progressive brain damage induced by OSA could be responsible for poor memory, emotional problems and decreased cognitive functioning. Unfortunately the lack of awareness in the medical community (about sleep disorders such as OSA and UARS), means that the diagnosis is often missed and as a result the root cause of symptoms such as poor memory, cognitive decline and damage to the brain and heart fester on! After discovering these findings, we realised the importance of making the public informed about just how important sleep is for your health, and thus, Sleep Renewal was born.
A major part of Sleep Renewal and the success of this brand is because we offer our home-based testing for sleep breathing disorders. We have streamlined the process in order to make the experience as painless as possible. New technology allows one to collect all the necessary data, to make an accurate diagnosis while you sleep in your own bed. This Home Sleep Study will confirm whether you do indeed have OSA and/or UARS, allowing you to treat potentially harmful sleep disorders.
