Sleep Unplugged with Dr. Chris Winter

On September 16th, 2024, Apple announced their new sleep apnea detection feature for their Apple Watch device had received FDA approval for the detection of mild to moderate sleep apnea. While this is an exciting development in the consumer medical field. In this episode, there are some concerns about this technology. In this episode we will:

• Touch upon the numbers when it comes to sleep apnea
• Understand why there is a market for sleep apnea detection
• Describe the technology Apple uses to detect sleep apnea
• Review the concept of true positive, true negative, false positive, an false negative results and how they relate to the concepts of sensitivity and specificity.
• Compare the sensitivity of the Apple Watch to chance, home sleep testing, etc.
• Consider the ideal sleep apnea screening characteristics

Produced by: Maeve Winter

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• The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

As summer comes to an end, it's a good time to examine how seasonal change tends to affect our sleep. In this episode we will:

• Refresh our memories about circadian factors related to sleep
• Look at seasonal trends in sleep times, bed times and wake times
• Evaluate factors such as light, temperature, and exercise as well as other surprising sleep variables that change with the season
• Examine various sleep stages and how seasons affect their quality and quantity
• Dive into new research suggesting that in addition to seasons affecting sleep characteristics, our sleep characteristics may be intrinsically changing to prepare us for various seasons

Produced by: Maeve Winter

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• Twitter: @drchriswinter
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• Threads: @drchriswinter
• Bluesky: @drchriswinter
• The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

For the first installment of the Sleep Unplugged Book Club, we will examine Andrew Spector's new book Navigating Life with Restless Legs Syndrome. This also marks a revisiting of the topic we covered in episode #13 (Restless Legs Syndrome: You Gotta Move). In this episode we will:

• Introduce Dr. Andrew Spector, a Duke University professor of neurology and restless legs expert
• Update and supplement information from episode #13 of this podcast about restless legs syndrome (RLS)
• Explore the role of iron in RLS and how to use ferritin and transferrin levels to guide potential therapies
• Touch upon the idea that despite different causes of RLS, determining the precise reason why you have RLS may not be particularly essential for choosing therapies
• List new treatment options that are not prescription medications
• Reexamine difficulties and downsides to dopamine agonist therapies
• Cautiously look at the use of benzodiazepines and opioids in perhaps a new light
• Touch upon other prescription medications that might be useful in the disorder
• Mention the relationship between insomnia and RLS

Produced by: Maeve Winter

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• Twitter: @drchriswinter
• IG: @drchriwinter
• Threads: @drchriswinter
• Bluesky: @drchriswinter
• The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

There is no topic in sleep more likely to incite a riot between sleep experts than the concept of a sleep debt. Does it really exist? Can a sleep debt ever be repaid? If so, how long? In this episode, we will:

• Define sleep debt
• Examine a new population study on the effects of sleep debt on cardiovascular risk
• Attempt to consolidate the available research into guidelines for dealing effectively with sleep debt
• Differentiate between sleep debt responses in insomnia sufferers and sleep deprived individuals
• Touch on how accurately understanding personal sleep need directly impacts sleep debt

Produced by: Maeve Winter

More

• Twitter: @drchriswinter
• IG: @drchriwinter
• Threads: @drchriswinter
• Bluesky: @drchriswinter
• The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

We have touched on inflammation as a central pathway connecting sleep disorders and dementia (episode 99), injury (episode 70), pain (episode 48), and cardiovascular disease (episode 35). In this episode, we shine the spotlight directly on inflammation and learn how it is connected to sleep. In this episode we will:

• Examine the reciprocal relationship between inflammation and sleep
• Understand how cytokines play a role in the inflammatory cascade, but also in sleep regulation
• Learn the circumstances that tend to raise cytokine levels, including sleep deprivation, sleep disruption, and excessive sleep
• Explore severe situations of sleep deprivation in animal models and learn how the resultant "cytokine storm" is virtually incompatible with life
• Follow the link between inflammation and chronic diseases, including dementia

Produced by: Maeve Winter

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• Twitter: @drchriswinter
• IG: @drchriwinter
• Threads: @drchriswinter
• Bluesky: @drchriswinter
• The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

Somewhere between normal nocturnal breathing and sleep apnea exists a strange entity. This condition, often debated in terms of its mere existence is upper airway resistance syndrome, and knowing about it can be the difference between solving your sleep-related breathing woes and continuing your struggles. In this episode we will:

• define upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS)
• review the concept and pathophysiology of upper airway resistance
• contrast how this disorder is defined in comparison to sleep apnea
• learn the difference between an AHI (apnea-hypopnea index) and an RDI (respiratory disturbance index)
• understand how different sleep studies (in-lab studies, home sleep studies/home sleep tests) might differ in their ability to diagnose the disorder
• list the various treatments that can be applied to the diagnosis

Produced by: Maeve Winter

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• Twitter: @drchriswinter
• IG: @drchriwinter
• Threads: @drchriswinter
• Bluesky: @drchriswinter
• The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

Sleep walking is probably the most recognized and discussed parasomnia, but it can also create significant confusion and danger for those affected. In this episode, we will:

• Define sleepwalking 
• Differentiate somnambulism and noctambulism
• Evaluate how age and genetics affects the condition
• Characterize the parasomnia
• List the causes of sleep walking
• Discuss disorders associated with the disorder
• Touch upon ways to assess sleepwalking
• Emphasize treatments and how to make environments safe for sleepwalkers

Produced by: Maeve Winter

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• Twitter: @drchriswinter
• IG: @drchriwinter
• Threads: @drchriswinter
• Bluesky: @drchriswinter
• The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

We often talk about the amount of sleep individuals need creates confusion for insomnia patients. In this episode we dive deeper into this concept with a way in which to think about sleep need. In this episode we will:

• Revisit sleep need 
• Understand why 8 hours is not right more many individuals
• Touch on the complicated nature of determining how much sleep one needs to sleep
• Define the "Good Night Rebound Bias"
• Learn how perception impacts sleep
• Describe how sleep journals can be made into more powerful tools for sleep need
• Learn how to calculate a Internight Sleep Variability Score

Produced by: Maeve Winter

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• Twitter: @drchriswinter
• IG: @drchriwinter
• Threads: @drchriswinter
• Bluesky: @drchriswinter
• The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

Sleep apnea is a very common medical problem that affects a large portion of the population. The treatment options leave much to be desired including what is by far and away the most common treatment: the CPAP device. This reality has led to the quest to find a medical treatment for sleep apnea, and one investigational drug AD109, has received some early attention. In this episode we will:

• Discuss the history of medications being tested as potential treatments for sleep apnea
• Review how sleep apnea is classified in terms of its severity
• List the current therapies for sleep apnea
• Describe the two components of AD109, and the mechanism of action of these drugs
• Evaluate the design and results of a recent study of AD109 in mild sleep apnea
• Put in perspective what these result mean in real world situations

Produced by: Maeve Winter

More

• Twitter: @drchriswinter
• IG: @drchriwinter
• Threads: @drchriswinter
• Bluesky: @drchriswinter
• The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!

Aging is a certainty of life, and with it comes changes in sleep. Understanding these changes is central to life-long pursuit of healthy sleep. In this episode we will:

• Discuss whether or not older individuals sleep less than younger individuals
• Evaluate the role of schedules and schedule flexibility in the sleep of the elderly
• Learn why the circadian rhythm diminishes with age
• Spotlight the role of exercise in the sleep of seniors
• Look at various sleep disorders of the elderly
• List the consequences of poor sleep in older individuals

Produced by: Maeve Winter

More

• Twitter: @drchriswinter
• IG: @drchriwinter
• Threads: @drchriswinter
• Bluesky: @drchriswinter
• The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child

Thanks for listening and sleep well!