Survey on Spectrum Health Web Site Helps Identify Sleep Concerns

Not getting enough sleep is more than an annoyance. Poor sleep impacts health, weight, safety, job performance, home life and personal relationships. An estimated 40 million Americans each year suffer from lack of sleep.

Spectrum Health is recognizing National Sleep Awareness Week®, March 7-13, by introducing a new tool on its Web site that will help people determine if they might have a sleep disorder.

A new sleep survey at www.spectrum-health.org/sleep uses the Epworth Sleepiness Scale to test sleepiness during the day. The scale, considered an important indicator of a potential sleep disorder, was developed in 1990 by Murray Johns, MD, the founding director of the Sleep Disorders Unit at Epworth Hospital in Melbourne, Australia.

“The higher a respondent scores on the eight question survey, the higher their level of daytime sleepiness. This usually reflects the lack of adequate sleep hours,” said Nancy Hausman, MD, medical director, Spectrum Health Sleep Disorders Center and mmpc® physician. “People who sleep at least seven hours a night but who still score nine or more on the scale should talk to their physician or contact the Spectrum Health Sleep Disorders Centers directly.”

“It can be helpful to have a spouse take the survey with you because we often don’t recognize our own sleepiness,” she added.

National Sleep Awareness Week® is an annual public education and awareness campaign sponsored by the National Sleep Foundation (www.sleepfoundation.org) to promote the importance of sleep. The week begins with the announcement of the National Sleep Foundation’s Sleep in America poll results and ends with the clock change to daylight saving time, where Americans lose one hour of sleep. The National Sleep Foundation will also release the results of the 2010 Sleep in America^TM poll on Sleep and Ethnicity on March 8.

Sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome and narcolepsy, can be successfully treated. Spectrum Health Sleep Disorders Centers provide diagnosis and treatment for adult and pediatric patients. With nine locations for sleep assessment and testing, Spectrum Health’s network of sleep centers is the largest in West Michigan. Through the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, Spectrum Health provides the only pediatric testing facility in West Michigan.

Spectrum Health is a not-for-profit health system in West Michigan that offers a full continuum of care through the Spectrum Health Hospital Group, a collection of seven hospitals and more than 140 service sites; the Spectrum Health Medical Group, mmpc® and West Michigan Heart-physician groups totaling more than 400 providers; and Priority Health, a health plan with nearly 580,000 members. Spectrum Health’s 16,000 employees, 1,500 medical staff members and 2,200 volunteers are committed to delivering the highest quality care. The organization provided $79.4 million in community benefit during its 2009 fiscal year. As a system, Spectrum Health has earned more than 100 awards since it was formed in 1997.