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Sleep center opens in Huber Heights

Facility offers state-of-the-art equipment to help diagnose disorders.

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By Cornelius Frolik, Staff Writer 11:48 AM Thursday, August 19, 2010

HUBER HEIGHTS — People call 911 when their conscious loved ones stop breathing, but they call Dr. Michael Valle when their loved ones are suffocating in their sleep.

Valle is the medical director at Physician Sleep Diagnostic Centers, a new sleep disorders center on the second floor of the Charles H. Huber Health Center.

Valle and the center’s 10 or so other employees offer to the public services to help them get a good night’s rest.

The center contains state-of-the-art equipment to help diagnose sleeping disorders ranging from restless leg syndrome to narcolepsy, said Bruce Ferris, administrator.

“The diagnostic tests will (mean) patients come in overnight and then we hook them up to electrodes and senors and we monitor several different things, including the stages of sleep they’re in, the blood oxygen levels and heart rate,” Ferris said.

The most common disorder is sleep apnea, a condition affecting more than 18 million American adults in which the person stops breathing while they snooze, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

The lack of oxygen wakes the person up, disrupting the natural sleep cycle, Ferris said.

People suffering from sleep apnea are often tired, have trouble concentrating, suffer from mood disturbances and develop morning headaches. Prolonged sleep disturbances have health consequences.

Ferris said his company in the business of helping people make their sleep the stuff of dreams.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-0749 or cfrolik@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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