It’s no surprise that nightly quality sleep has amazing benefits to your physical health, mental health, and overall quality of life. How you feel during the day is often directly related to the amount and quality of sleep you get every night.

During sleep, our minds and bodies are busy working to repair and rejuvenate our muscle tissues and bones; restore energy; regulate hormones that are key for growth and development; boost our immune systems; and store important memories.

Many people don’t get the necessary amount of sleep they need every night, preventing these important functions from occurring. Some of these people may simply need to make more time for sleep because work, social obligations, and other factors may be preventing them from getting the rest they need. However, for some other folks, a sleep disorder may be preventing them getting quality sleep at night. With approximately 50-70 million adults in the U.S. believed to be suffering from a sleep or wakefulness disorder, it’s astonishing that so few people seek out treatment. Many people may not even realize they have a disorder as their symptoms occur while they’re sleeping and unaware, more simply downplay the seriousness of untreated sleep disorders, and others may be completely oblivious to the consequences of untreated sleep disorders.

If you’re either unsure, unaware, or uncaring as to the consequences of your untreated sleep disorder, you might want to read a few of the reasons for getting a sleep study below before you write off your sleep health for good.

1. Your Health is Worth a Sleep Study

You may think that losing a few hours of sleep every night is not really a big deal, and after all, maybe you’ve been experiencing sleep loss for years. So what’s the big deal? Well, here are just a few of the potential risks for unchecked sleep disorders:

• Excessive daytime sleepiness
• Stress
• Fatigue
• Obesity
• High blood pressure
• Heart disease
• Heart attack
• Irregular heart beat
• Diabetes
• Increased risk of accidents
• Morning headaches

And these are just some of the risks to your physical health. There are many consequences to your mental health and general well-being as well. These include:

• Depression
• Irritability
• Anxiety
• Mood swings
• Difficulty concentrating
• Cognitive impairment
• Decreased sex drive
• Poor work performance

Not to mention that being tired all the time means you’re spending less quality with your friends and family as you just don’t have the energy to participate in certain activities. While some people may not be so concerned about their own health, most people wouldn’t risk the health of their loved ones. This brings us to reason number two…

2. Your Sleep Disorder Can Impact Your Bed-partner’s Health

As mentioned before, many sleep disorders go unnoticed by the sufferers themselves. Many people don’t really experience the negative aspects of their sleep habits while sleeping, and may only recognize the symptoms they experience during the day such as fatigue and excessive daytime sleepiness. Oftentimes, it’s the sufferer’s bed-partner who brings up the disorder because it’s been keeping them awake at night. Some of the most common sleep disorders that impact your bed-partner’s quality of sleep are:

• Obstructive sleep apnea. Patient’s suffering from obstructive sleep apnea often snore very loudly, which can disturb their partner’s sleep. Also the cessations in breathing can cause partners a lot of worry as there’s a very legitimate fear that their loved ones may stop breathing in the night altogether.
• Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) and Periodic Limb Movement Disorder (PLMD). These two movement disorders can cause the sufferer to be continuously moving their legs in bed; either voluntarily before sleep to relieve uncomfortable sensations(RLS), or involuntarily during sleep (PLMD). Both of these disorders cause body movements, which may either wake your partner from sleep or prevent them from going to sleep.
• Bruxism. This sleep disorder is characterized by clenching one’s jaw tightly during sleep and often grinding the teeth together. The teeth grinding is often loud and disturbing to other’s sleep.
• Other parasomnias. There are many other sleep disorders that can arouse or prevent your partner from sleep. These can include sleep walking, REM sleep behavior disorder, sleep talking (somniloquy), night terrors, and more.

If your sleep disorder is preventing your partner from getting quality sleep at night, it’s very likely they will display symptoms of sleep deprivation and find themselves at risk for many of the symptoms listed above. So it’s not just your health at stake by keeping from getting your disorder checked out, it’s your loved one’s as well.

3. A Sleep Study is Worth the Cost

One of the most common reasons for leaving sleep disorders untreated is because of high medical costs. And yes, sleep studies can be pretty pricey. However, most insurance companies recognize the health issues associated with unchecked sleep disorders and may very well have fair coverage costs. Make sure to check with your insurance company to see what type of coverage they offer for a sleep study. You may be surprised to find out just how affordable it might be.

Depending on the type of sleep disorder you have, you may find affordable alternatives to an inlab sleep study (polysomnogram), such as a home sleep test, which is about a third of the cost.

For a typical breakdown of the cost of a sleep study click here.

In all honesty, there are many reasons to have a sleep study done, especially if you or your loved ones are suffering as a result. Treatments for sleep disorders have a high rate of success for patients willing to take the leap in getting diagnosed. Within a short time of getting treatment, many patients find themselves feeling more alert and invigorated during the day and report an amazing change in the quality of their life.

The Alaska Sleep Clinic specializes in diagnosing and treating a variety of sleep disorders. If you live in Alaska and are ready to get your sleep disorder under control, sign up for a sleep study today by clicking the link below and take the first step towards more fulfilling sleep.