Specialists in sleep medicine diagnose and treat disorders affecting sleep habits and sleep-related conditions. Problems with sleep can indicate problems with one’s overall health. People of all ages may experience chronic sleeping difficulties, which could indicate an unidentified medical condition or health problem.

In order to treat sleep disorders, physicians who specialize in sleep medicine should be able to identify the underlying causes and provide relevant diagnosis. In addition to undergoing a sleep evaluation, tracking sleep patterns and symptoms, and undergoing further testing, this process involves a physical examination and other tests.

Sleep studies may be performed by a physician who specializes in sleep medicine. The three most common forms of sleep studies are polysomnography, multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) and maintenance of wakefulness test (MWT).

For sleep disorders, there are a number of commonly used treatments, including medications, continuous positive airway pressure, oral appliances, and behavioral therapy to improve sleeping habits.

Specialized practitioners of sleep medicine treat a wide range of conditions, including mild to severe cases of insomnia, narcolepsy, and obstructive sleep apnea. Additionally, chronic changes in sleep patterns can be linked to excessive snoring and circadian rhythm disorders, such as frequent jet lag and shift work changes.

In addition to diagnosing and treating parasomnias, sleep specialists may also manage bruxism (tooth grinding), sleep paralysis, and hypersomnia, which are classified as sleep disorders.

Sleep specialists provide expert care for patients suffering from a variety of sleep-related diseases through collaborations with neurologists, pulmonologists, internal medicine, and psychiatrists, because healthy sleep patterns are so critical to overall health and quality of life.