The Science of Sleep with TidalHealth

OCEAN PINES, Md. – In this week’s Health Beat, brought to you by TidalHealth, WMDT spoke with Jacques Conaway, MD, a specialist with TidalHealth Sleep Medicine in Ocean Pines.

While sleep is often treated as a luxury by the busiest of us, it’s as vital to the human body as fresh air is. Dr. Conaway tells us that many things happen to the body while we sleep, including restoring energy and consolidating the previous day’s memories.

“Believe it or not, during sleep, there has been a lot of work looking at the central nervous system and some of the metabolites or breakdown products of the central nervous system during the day,” Dr. Conaway says. “Some of these metabolites, when they are elevated in the blood, increase the risk for neurodegenerative disorders; Alzheimer’s being one of them.”

At TidalHealth Sleep Medicine, physicians examine a number of sleep disorders including sleep apnea, insomnia, and excessive tiredness. With the launch of a new sleep training program later this year, Dr. Conaway says he hopes more physicians will come to the area to treat patients through TidalHealth.

“If you’re finding that you’re not getting a good night’s rest either falling asleep, difficulty staying asleep, waking up too early, if feeling excessively tired during the day and it’s a consistent problem that is not normal. That’s the time to seek out consultation, either with your primary care physician or a sleep specialist like myself,” Dr. Conaway concluded.