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A sound and restful sleep is fundamental to our health and well-being. Yet for millions of Americans, sleep is regularly interrupted or insufficient. To address the needs of this population, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center has established a new Center for Sleep Medicine (www.weill.cornell.edu/sleepcenter/) one of the largest academic medical programs of its kind in the country dedicated to providing comprehensive diagnosis and treatment.

Serving as the Center's co-directors are pulmonologist Dr. Ana Krieger and psychologist Dr. Arthur Spielman — both specialists in sleep medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell.

Located at 425 East 61st Street, between First and York Avenues, the Center for Sleep Medicine's comprehensive care team and consultants includes specialists in neurology; internal medicine; pulmonary medicine; ear, nose and throat (ENT); pediatrics; psychiatry; psychology; bariatric surgery; nutrition; and endocrinology. The 8,000-square-foot facility offers 12 hotel-quality sleep rooms for daytime and overnight sleep evaluation. Each room has a private bathroom, cable TV and Wi-Fi. The Center also has dedicated treatment areas for children and can accommodate overweight and obese patients.

The Center offers cutting-edge tools for diagnosing and treating sleep disorders, including adaptive servo-ventilation (ASV), a "smart" ventilator that analyzes breathing and adjusts air pressure to suit the patient's needs. When sleep apnea occurs, the ASV responds with air pressure that mimics approximately 90 percent of the patient's normal breathing pressure. As their apnea ends, the ASV slowly stops providing breathing support. The result is a sleep apnea treatment that is more in tune with a normal breathing pattern.

Alongside its clinical programs, the Center has an educational mission aimed at expanding and advancing the field of sleep medicine. Training for fellows and other specialists is available.

Tips on Getting a Good Night's Sleep

An estimated one in five American adults is sleepy during the daytime. Reasons may include stress or poor sleep habits, or medical conditions such as insomnia, sleep apnea, sleepwalking and narcolepsy. Depending on the source of the problem, treatment approaches can include devices that support breathing during sleep, medications, surgery and behavioral therapy.

"Good sleep requires the whole body working in concert. With this in mind, our Center for Sleep Medicine applies a multidisciplinary approach to diagnose sleep disorders and provide effective treatment and follow-up," says Dr. Krieger, assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College with concurrent appointments in the Departments of Neurology and Genetic Medicine.

"Sleep medicine is preventive medicine. The ability to get a good night's sleep can help stave off serious health problems, including diabetes, depression, heart attack and stroke," says Dr. Spielman, adjunct clinical professor of psychology in neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medical College.

Drs. Krieger and Spielman suggest some best practices for getting a good night's sleep.

Adults:

1. Follow a regular schedule: Go to bed at the same time each night, and get up at the same time each morning.
2. Make sure your bedroom is quiet, dark and relaxing with a comfortable temperature.
3. Make sure your bed is comfortable and use it only for sleeping and not for other activities, such as reading, watching TV or listening to music. Remove all TVs, computers and other gadgets from the bedroom.
4. Physical activity may help promote sleep, but not within a few hours of bedtime.
5. Do not worry about occasional sleeplessness. In most cases one or more nights of poor sleep is followed by compensatory improved sleep.

Adolescents/Young Adults:

1. Avoid caffeinated drinks after lunch.
2. Avoid bright light in the evening.
3. Avoid invigorating activities around bedtime (e.g., heavy studying, text messaging, getting into prolonged conversations).
4. Expose yourself to bright light upon awakening in the morning.
5. While sleeping in on weekends is permissible, it should not be more than two hours past your usual wake time, to avoid disrupting your circadian rhythm governing sleepiness and wakefulness.
6. Avoid pulling an "all nighter" to study.

For more information, patients may call 866-NYP-NEWS.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, located in New York City, is one of the leading academic medical centers in the world, comprising the teaching hospital NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medical College, the medical school of Cornell University. NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell provides state-of-the-art inpatient, ambulatory and preventive care in all areas of medicine, and is committed to excellence in patient care, education, research and community service. Weill Cornell physician-scientists have been responsible for many medical advances — including the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer; the synthesis of penicillin; the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S.; the first clinical trial for gene therapy for Parkinson's disease; the first indication of bone marrow's critical role in tumor growth; and, most recently, the world's first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally conscious brain-injured patient. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital also comprises NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division and NewYork-Presbyterian/The Allen Hospital. NewYork-Presbyterian is the #1 hospital in the New York metropolitan area and is consistently ranked among the best academic medical institutions in the nation, according to U.S.News & World Report. Weill Cornell Medical College is the first U.S. medical college to offer a medical degree overseas and maintains a strong global presence in Austria, Brazil, Haiti, Tanzania, Turkey and Qatar. For more information, visit www.nyp.org and www.med.cornell.edu.