Every May, the Better Sleep Council, or BSC, sponsors Better Sleep Month with an aim to raise awareness about how poor sleep, especially on a regular basis, can negatively affect our lives and our health. The organization also places an emphasis on all the benefits of getting better sleep to improve our daily lives and overall health.

If you haven’t heard of FitBit, it’s a digital wristband company that creates products worn like watches to track activity and movement. Users track how many steps they’ve taken each day and set goals that the devices then remind them of throughout the day. They are essentially tools that aid in the process of getting healthier and moving more.

Now, FitBit is attempting to use the data it collects to help with diagnosis of sleep apnea and irregular heartbeat, or afibrillation. FitBit reports having over 105 billion hours of heart-rate data already and 6 billion nights’ worth of sleep data. This is all in addition to the 200 billion minutes of exercise tracking data collected.

The snoring habits of middle-aged men have been the subject of sitcoms and comedy skits for decades. In fact it may seem like adult males are the only ones who snore. Unfortunately, women and children often suffer from chronic snoring too, and since the topic is much less talked about, it can leave them with more questions than answers.

According to new research published in the the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, elderly people with obstructive sleep apnea may have an increased risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease.

The first multi-site study conducted at Northwestern Medicine and the University of Illinois Chicago for a medication to treat obstructive sleep apnea was recently found to be safe and effective. The drug, a synthetic cannabis-like pill called dronabinol, underwent a phase two trial funded by the National Institutes of Health. The medication was approved over 25 years ago by the FDA for treating symptoms of nausea and vomiting for chemotherapy patients. The recent study was the longest and largest randomized, controlled trial to ever be conducted on a potential medication for sleep apnea.

Americans are busier than ever. Today’s modern professionals are all juggling more than ever before. Pressures run high to be the best, the brightest, the most qualified for the job all while trying to balance a personal life, which for some includes the relationships and needs of spouses and children.

Sleep studies in a lab have always been one of the most frustrating parts of diagnosing a sleep disorder for most patients. The environment is unfamiliar and it can be hard to relax enough to sleep like you would at home, not to mention the high cost of spending the night in a sleep-study facility.

Thanks to television sitcoms, when you picture someone who snores until the house shakes, you likely picture an overweight middle-aged man. For years this was the typical sleep apnea patient and the most likely to get diagnosed and treated for the condition. Over time, research has shown that women and children also suffer from sleep apnea and that they often go undiagnosed, according to Dr. Amy Norman of Dream Smile in Everett, Washington.

Contrary to what every sitcom has tried to convince you, snoring isn't a laughing matter. Why? Because snoring is a breathing disorder that’s on a spectrum. On one end of this spectrum you have snoring, and on the other end you have severe obstructive sleep apnea.

Snoring is a sign that your breathing during sleep is not normal. It can even be a warning sign of a sometimes severe disorder called obstructive sleep apnea.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, sleep apnea affects more than 18 million people in the United States alone, and the disorder is likely to be under-diagnosed. For those who do seek treatment, one of the most confusing parts is deciding what kind of doctor to see. Here are five different medical professionals who treat sleep apnea and why you would consider each one:

 When you picture the typical sleep apnea patient, what comes to mind? For many, it's an image of an overweight, middle-aged man snoring through the night. This is a common conception not only with the general population, but also with doctors, according to Dr. Amy Norman, DDS, a dentist in Everett, Washington, who treats many sleep apnea patients in her practice.  

"For years, men have been the poster children of sorts for sleep apnea," she said. "There are many reasons for this. Women are affected differently by sleep apnea in many cases and don’t always snore. They are often misdiagnosed since their symptoms don’t always align with a doctor’s idea of what a typical sleep apnea patient looks like."

A new study from Washington University in St. Louis has found a link between disrupted sleep and Alzheimer’s disease. The study, conducted in partnership with Stanford University and Radbound University Medical Centre in the Netherlands and published in the medical journal Brain, shows that continued poor sleep during middle age could increase the risk for Alzheimer’s disease as the patient ages.