Did you know that if you don't use all of your health insurance benefits this year, you lose them forever? 

You may have met your deductible for 2016 already. If so, you can take advantage of lower (or no) out-of-pocket expenses for medical services such as sleep studies, PAP or supplies (learn about insurance coverage for these services here).

Waiting until next year means that not only will you lose any unused benefits for this year, but also that you'll have to first satisfy a new year's deductible before any benefits will be paid. 

We understand that patients and their physicians are concerned about rising out-of-pocket expenses for health care; unfortunately, this often affects decisions about how healthcare is administered.

Now, more than ever, it's important to understand your insurance benefits and take advantage of your benefits. Here are some key terms that you should understand.

Sleep apnea affects approximately 20 million Americans—nearly one out of every 16 people—and estimates show that sleep disorders affect over 40 million people in the United States alone. Sufferers are unable to achieve restful sleep, no matter how long they spend in bed. As a result, people with sleep apnea suffer from many negative health effects and conditions as a result of the strain on their body and mind. When left untreated, sleep apnea can significantly reduce a person’s health and quality of life.

There are effective treatments for sleep apnea that are FDA approved and easily available; however, these therapies are challenging to use or prohibitively expensive. As a result, there are many alternative therapies that are gaining popularity as new research and technology are making them more effective. One such potential therapy is derived from a controversial substance: marijuana.

Video gaming is something of a national pastime among teenagers in the United States. One survey found that nearly 75% of teenage boys participate in some form of gaming^1. 

With so many of our  kids playing video games as a principle form of recreation, and so many of the video games being highly action-oriented and even violent, it's natural to wonder how this stimulation can impact sleep. 

PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) manifests itself in many ways.

The symptoms of PTSD aren't limited to distressing memories and emotional trauma.

In fact, a large body of research has shown that veterans suffering from PTSD are at increased risk for a host of sleep disorders. 

The complex relationship between anxiety, breathing problems, hyperarousal, and intrusive memories makes it difficult to isolate the factors causing these sleep disorders and can complicate treatment. But a couple things are clear; veterans experience sleep disorders at a very high rate, and it is very important for these disorders be treated in addition to targeting the PTSD itself. 

Sleep studies are performed to rule out or diagnose sleep disorders such as sleep apnea and narcolepsy.

A sleep study can take place in a sleep center or in a patient's home (learn about the difference between in-center and in-home testing here).

If you have just scheduled or are planning to schedule your first sleep study, you may wonder how long the entire procedure will take. In this post, we'll cover the typical length of different types of sleep studies.

PAP (positive airway pressure) therapy treats obstructive sleep apnea by delivering pressurized air into the airways to keep it open during the night while sleeping. PAP can reduce or completely eliminate sleep apnea (learn more about how PAP therapy works here).

There is significant evidence that treating sleep apnea with PAP therapy improves quality of life, reduces daytime sleepiness, reduces motor-vehicle accidents, improves hypertension and may reduce death due to cardiovascular events.

The most common device is called CPAP; however, there is another device called bi-level PAP or BiPAP that can be more comfortable for some patients. Learn more about how that device works and what's required to get approval from your insurance company.

CPAP is the gold-standard therapy for adult patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

It is the most effective therapy, when used properly, at reducing or eliminating apnea events. CPAP therapy has been shown to prevent and even reduce the negative effects that sleep apnea can have on the body, including increased risk of death from heart problems.

We talk a lot about the use of CPAP for adults, but what about children? 

It is estimated that 2-3% of children suffer from sleep apnea. Can they benefit from CPAP therapy too?

The patient clearly has sleep apnea, but it's not severe enough for the insurance company to cover therapy. Why?

Unfortunately, there are varying opinions about how sleep apnea is diagnosed and when CPAP is the appropriate therapy.

Primarily, the difference is between how Medicare (CMS) and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) define a diagnosis of sleep apnea. And many commercial insurances are starting to follow Medicare's guidelines for CPAP coverage.

In this post we'll explain what insurance companies, including Medicare, are looking for in a sleep study to determine coverage for CPAP. We'll offer suggestions of what to do if insurance won't cover CPAP.

I wanted to start this week with a real warm and fuzzy post about how grateful we are for our sleep technologists. We call them night techs. Each October, the American Association of Sleep Technologists celebrates Sleep Tech Week to recognize the technologists who play a vital role in sleep centers across the country.

Who performs overnight sleep studies?

That's right... our Registered Polysomnographic Technologists... our sleep techs (or RPSGTs for short). These are the ladies and gents that perform sleep studies, for the young and old, sick and tired, seven nights a week almost 365 days a year. The tech who attaches all of the electrodes and tucks you in for a good night's sleep at the sleep center.  

Our sleep techs work tirelessly making sure that our patients are comfortable, informed, and properly cared for during their overnight sleep studies. It's a tough job. Many patients undergoing sleep studies are nervous, anxious, tired and not interested in spending the night in an unfamiliar place with an unfamiliar technician. But it's an important job! After completing a sleep study and receiving treatment for a sleep disorder, many patients report that their lives are greatly improved. 

So that got me thinking: who's taking care of the sleep techs? I have several questions:

• What are the effects of working the Graveyard Shift (ie: working overnight)? Does it cause sleep disorders?
• Can anyone work overnight, or are some people more suited to night work than others?
• Do gravediggers really dig graves at night? (this question seems appropriate as we approach Halloween)

Here's what I found:

Why does coffee help us start the day?

Caffeine is a tricky substance. To our brains, caffeine looks like adenosine, a compound consisting of adenine (one of the four building blocks of DNA) and ribose. As it is created in the brain, adenosine binds to the adenosine receptors, causing drowsiness by slowing down nerve cell activity.