Uncategorized – We Talk Sleep

Sleep apnea and hospital readmissions: CPAP adherence matters

We Talk Sleep — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 16:59:23 +0000

A new study of patients with obstructive sleep apnea suggests that non-adherence to continuous positive airway pressure therapy, or CPAP, is tightly linked with an increase in 30-day hospital readmissions.

The results showed that non-adherent patients were three times more likely to be readmitted to the hospital within 30 days for any cause. They also were twice as likely to be readmitted for cardiovascular reasons; the leading cardiovascular causes for readmission in these patients were atrial fibrillation, myocardial ischemia and congestive heart failure, all of which are connected to untreated sleep apnea.

Many hospitals are trying to drive down their 30-day readmission rates in order to avoid financial penalties. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services effectively withhold reimbursement to hospitals that fare worse than their peers when it comes to keeping patients out of the hospital. According to Loopback Analytics, hospitals were penalized about $108 million more in 2017 than in the previous year for readmissions alone.

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8 common things you should never do when you’re trying to get a good sleep, according to an expert — and what to do instead

We Talk Sleep — Tue, 12 Dec 2017 15:46:58 +0000

Poor sleep makes us miserable. Not only that, but research has shown that if we don’t get enough sleep, it can be bad for our mental health, result in poor performance and concentration, and in the long term can increase our risk of diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s.

But no matter how many times we are told about the risks of not sleeping enough, it’s still something too many of us compromise on.

New research from Debut — a student careers app — looked at the sleeping habits of 1,331 UK-based 18 to 25-year-old university students. It found that 74% of them admitted to often forfeiting sleep to make time for study, completing assignments, or revising for exams.

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The A to Zzzzzzs of sleep technology

We Talk Sleep — Fri, 20 Oct 2017 13:57:43 +0000

It used to be that people walked, breathed, and slept without counting steps or beats, or minutes in REM and deep sleep.

That’s so old-school.

Today, smart watches can answer all sorts of burning questions in real time. They can tell heart rate, steps logged that day and time in fat burning mode. They can analyze sleep each night. And soon, some will act as glucose meters.

Shedding light on sleep pattern gives the wearer insight into how much sleep they got in hours and minutes, how many times they woke in the night, and how much light, deep and REM sleep was logged.

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