By Paige Smith
Think back for a moment to the first time you attended a trade show—the buzz of the exhibit hall charged with people discussing current events, multiple rows of booths displaying new products and services, a program chock-full of lectures and various evening extravaganzas. The excitement and anticipation are almost overwhelming, yet the experience is taken in, and before you know it, it is over and the next show doesn’t come soon enough. The Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) meeting will be my first sleep show and it will mark Sleep Review’s debut at a trade show.
As part of my quest at the APSS, I will be attending various seminars such as “New Developments in Hypocretin/Orexin (HCRT) Research” and “Parasomnias, Sleep, and Epilepsy” to obtain new article ideas for future issues of Sleep Review.
One significant topic that will be presented is “Fatigue Management for Sleep Center Personnel” by Mark Rosekind, PhD, which convenes on Friday, June 8, Session M24. To emphasize the importance of this subject, Rosekind wrote the cover story in this issue titled “Managing Alertness in Sleep Personnel” with John Boyd, PhD, and William C. Dement, MD, PhD (page 17). He will be handing out copies of Sleep Review as part of his presentation, so be sure to stop in. Rosekind’s article discusses the lack of sleep that our society endures and while technology has advanced significantly in recent years, human physiology has not. Sleep loss creates the opportunity for more errors and accidents, thereby causing societal and individual safety concerns, which also relates to a recent National Sleep Foundation poll released on March 26. The 2001 Sleep in America concludes that Americans are spending more time at the office and less time sleeping. Researchers surveyed 1,004 adults over the age of 18 to study the relationship among Americans’ lifestyles, sleep habits, and sleep problems. Approximately 63% of those surveyed slept less than 8 hours a night, with 31% reporting less than 7 hours on week nights. About 38% work 50 hours or more per week, with 22% saying that daytime sleepiness interferes with their daily activities. For more information about the poll, visit www.sleepfoundation.org. As sleep specialists, you know that diagnosing sleep disorders is of utmost importance to the public’s overall health and these polls stress the significance of your jobs.
So, when the doors open on June 5 and the talk about sleep fills the air, please take a moment to stop by our booth (#810) and say hello. I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible to receive your input about Sleep Review. And with that… let the show begin.
Paige Smith, Editor
