Importance of Deep Sleep

[Guest]

I was watching Rachel Ray's show today and they had a sleep specialist on. The subject was one one fella in his 30's who had an overnight PSG and he complains that he's never rested and always tired.

The PSG was done and although he had no OSA events, the sleep doctor said that this guy had very little deep (restorative) sleep. He goes on to say that this is significant and this fella had stages 3/4 of a 70 year old and he was troubled by those findings.

I find this interesting since many sleep doctors will say that a low stage 3/4 percentage is not a big deal, which goes against common sense yet this other sleep specialist says otherwise. They will go as far as to say that in the lab most people don't get much deep sleep anyways say they ignore thid info, which could be of major importance.

I wonder why there's such a disparity between sleep physicians on the amount of deep sleep one needs for a given individual?

[rux1960]

strangely, today I went to change my mask and through the questions I found out from the technician that actually one can have no apneas but never get into the deep sleep. And I am interested to get to deep sleep as the body only repair itself in the deep sleep. I am wondering if doctors have really patients interest at heart as it is possible to be successful at cpap treatment , no apneas but still tired and deteriorating ...I will ask my doctor how can I make sure that the treatment works and I eventually get some deep sleep which is only registered through a sleep test I would assume

[Guest]

My sleep doc says the majority of his patients don't get much stage 3 and 4 while undergoing a PSG. He goes on to add that if you don't get much deep sleep you're likely depressed and medications are prescribed.

[Suz-E-Q]

In the first sleep study I had minimal stage 4 sleep, about a quarter of the time I should have had. During my titration study they indicated that I was in stage 4 for twice as long as is typical. They indicated that my body was so sleep deprived that when it finally got to the deep sleep it stayed there longer than usual. The doc said that as I recovered from the deprivation it would balance back to the typical length of time. I also had less REM than is typical, could have been at the expense of the deep sleep or could be my meds. Anti-depressants will reduce the amount of REM sleep.

[Guest]

Anti-depressants will reduce the amount of REM sleep.

And they give you lhorrible side effects, some of them can become permanent. Thumbs up to all those doctors who feel psych drugs are the answer.

I guess doctors and drug companies will be more aggressive in marketing their psych drugs for other problems since more and more reports (studies) are coming out showing their ineffectiveness in treating depression or mental problems.