Zee Story The back of the alphabet is pushing for primacy. The masked avenger Zorro appeared in 1919; the remarkably popular Z cars television crime series transfixed Britain in the 1960s. Now is era of Z drugs. Zolpidem, zaleplon, and eszopiclone – respectively named for the commercially minded ambien, sonata and lunesta – are today’s […]
What Will Happen to Sleep Medicine? (8/4/14)
Sleep medicine is about to change. With luck it will change how people treat and view sleep. What will disappear? The present treatment model – what I’ll call the “Sleep Apnea Testing Service Model”- after the suggestion of Dr. Michael Grandner. What will replace it? Hopefully a treatment format that addresses and improves both individual […]
Why You Don’t Light the Night (6/16/14)
Don’t Light the Night White Nights – romance and adventure. These are times where the barriers of fatigue and tradition can be broken. We are overwhelmed by possibility and longing. If dreams can occur at night, so may their unexpected fulfillments. Yet what if white nights, filled with the light of love and literature, […]
Driving Through Sleep (4/21/14)
Transport and Sleep Chance can kill you. So can sleepiness. People on the Metro-North commuter train into Manhattan were expecting a normal trip one morning last December. Until something “abnormal” occurred. At 7:20 AM, the train turned into a thirty mile an hour flying at 82 miles per hour. They were heading towards Spuyten […]
Is Sleep Apnea Boring? (2/3/14)
Clinical Fascination Boredom can prove very personal. A few weeks ago I sat down in the hospital cafeteria. At my table was a polite, bright pulmonologist. He expressed sympathy for my work: “I find sleep apnea so boring.” For a doctor like him there’s isn’t much to do with sleep apnea. Somebody comes in. They […]