Ask Stanford Med: Sleep specialist taking questions on how to ‘spring forward’ without feeling fatigued
Ask Stanford Med: Sleep specialist taking questions on how to ‘spring forward’ without feeling fatigued
Past research has shown that not getting enough sleep may have more serious consequences than feeling groggy in the morning. Trouble sleeping has been linked to heart problems, increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, development of Alzheimer’s disease and weight gain. Despite the health risks of not getting enough sleep, recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that more than a third of Americans are sleep deprived.
Changes to our sleep schedules, such as the upcoming daylight-saving time change, can cause difficulty falling or staying asleep and trigger sleep problems. To help you spring forward and stay on track, we’ve asked Stanford’s Rafael Pelayo, MD, to field your questions on sleep research and ways for making sure daylight-saving time doesn’t cut into your snooze time. An expert in sleep medicine, Pelayo has long researched and treated sleep conditions, including insomnia, sleep disruptions and sleep apnea. He sees both adult and pediatric patients.
Questions can be submitted to Pelayo about by sending an @reply message to@SUMedicine and include the hashtag #AskSUMed in your tweet. (Not a Twitter user? Then please submit a comment below.) We’ll collect questions until Feb. 29 at 5 pm. In submitting questions, please abide by the following ground rules:
- Stay on topic
- Be respectful to the person answering your questions
- Be respectful to one another in submitting questions
- Do not monopolize the conversation or post the same question repeatedly
- Kindly ignore disrespectful or off topic comments
- Twitter handles and/or names may be used in the responses
Medical school experts taking questions on the @SUMedicine feed will answer a selection of the questions submitted, but not all of them.
Finally – and you may have already guessed this – an answer to any question submitted as part of this feature is meant to offer medical information, not medical advice. These answers are not a basis for any action or inaction, and they’re also not meant to replace the evaluation and determination of your doctor, who will address your specific medical needs and can make a diagnosis and give you the appropriate care.
By Lia Steakley
Stanford University Medical Center
Photo by hang_in_there
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* Stanford University Medical Center integrates research, medical education and patient care at its three institutions – Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.
** The above story is adapted from materials provided by Stanford University School of Medicine
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