Daytime Sleepiness? It Might Be More Than Just a Busy Season

You keep telling yourself you just need to catch up on sleep. Once the busy holiday season ends, you’ll feel normal again.

But weeks pass, and the exhaustion stays. Even after eight hours of sleep, you still feel like you barely slept at all. Chronic daytime sleepiness often points to an underlying sleep disorder that won’t resolve on its own.

At Northwest Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine in Algonquin, Illinois, Dennis Kellar, MD, Amanda Law, FPA-APRN, CNP, and our team help patients discover what’s disrupting their rest.

The difference between tired and exhausted

Everyone has tired days, but sleep disorders cause a deeper kind of exhaustion. Your body never reaches the restorative sleep stages that leave you feeling refreshed.

Several sleep disorders can cause relentless daytime fatigue:

• Sleep apnea blocks your airway repeatedly throughout the night
• Restless leg syndrome creates uncomfortable sensations that prevent deep sleep
• Narcolepsy causes sudden sleep attacks during the day
• Chronic insomnia keeps you from falling or staying asleep

Sleep apnea is one of the most common causes. Your throat tissues repeatedly collapse during sleep, blocking your airway. Each time your oxygen drops, your brain jerks you awake just enough to start breathing again.

You won’t remember these interruptions, but they can happen hundreds of times each night.

Warning signs of a sleep disorder

Sleep disorders can impact daytime energy and nighttime sleep quality. You may experience:

• Falling asleep within minutes of sitting down
• Waking up more exhausted than when you went to bed
• Struggling to concentrate on simple tasks
• Feeling irritable or foggy-headed all day
• Needing multiple naps that never feel refreshing

If you live with others, they may notice loud snoring with pauses in breathing or gasping sounds through the night.

How sleep studies work

Sleep disorders affect 50 million-70 million Americans. Our team at Northwest Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine offers two types of sleep testing to identify what’s disturbing your rest:

Home sleep studies

Based on your insurance and other medical conditions, you may qualify for a home sleep study. This test uses sensors attached to your finger, chest, and nose to measure breathing patterns, oxygen levels, and heart rate while you sleep in your bed.

In-lab sleep studies

More complex cases require in-lab testing. Our practice is accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the gold standard for evaluating sleep medicine services.

Both tests show exactly when your breathing stops, how long the pauses last, and how severely your oxygen levels drop. The data also captures leg movements, sleep stages, and other factors that might interfere with quality rest.

Treatment restores normal breathing and energy

Sleep apnea treatment focuses on keeping your airway open throughout the night. Our team offers several options based on your needs and preferences, such as:

CPAP therapy

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines are the most common treatment for sleep apnea. CPAP keeps your airway open by delivering steady air pressure through a mask. 

Modern CPAP devices adjust automatically throughout the night, increasing pressure when your throat starts to narrow and decreasing it when you breathe normally.

Inspire sleep therapy

This small device, implanted under the skin, monitors your breathing and stimulates the nerve that controls your tongue. When your airway starts to close, gentle stimulation moves your tongue forward to keep the passage open.

Inspire works while you sleep, without masks or machines on your nightstand.

Getting answers about your exhaustion

Chronic exhaustion changes how you move through life. Everything feels harder when you constantly operate at half speed.

If you’re always tired despite getting plenty of time in bed, call our office at 815-584-0976 or schedule your consultation online to find out what’s disrupting your sleep.