Quality sleep is essential to your overall health. Sleep disorders affect the quality of your sleep, how long you sleep and when you sleep. A consistent lack of sleep can lead to sleep deprivation, which impacts your ability to function properly and may increase your risk of developing other health problems.

HCA Houston Healthcare offers a network of seven sleep centers across the Greater Houston area dedicated to treating adult and pediatric sleep disorders. Our sleep medicine physicians and specialists have received specialized training in the field of sleep medicine and are committed to providing the highest quality sleep medicine care.

HCA Houston Sleep Centers are equipped to diagnose and treat a variety of sleep disorders, including:

  • Circadian rhythm sleep disorders involve disruptive changes to your body's internal clock and sleep timing. Jet lag and shift work disorder can cause your circadian clock to be out of sync with your environment.
  • Insomnia is a sleep disorder characterized by difficulty with falling asleep, staying asleep or both.
  • Narcolepsy causes a person to have sudden sleep attacks or severe drowsiness during the day. The sleep attacks can occur during any activity.
  • Parasomnias are abnormal and recurrent nighttime behaviors, such as sleepwalking, sleep paralysis, and night terrors.
  • Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder in which a person's breathing stops and starts during sleep. There are three main types of sleep apnea:
    • Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when your throat muscles relax and your upper airway is blocked.
    • Central sleep apnea occurs when your brain sends improper signals to the muscles that control breathing.
    • Complex sleep apnea is a combination of obstructive and central sleep apnea.
  • Sleep-related movement disorders cause repetitive movements that interfere with sleep, like restless leg syndrome and periodic limb movement disorder.

HCA Houston sleep disorder services

Our sleep medicine specialists offer a variety of diagnostic tests and studies to accurately analyze your sleep patterns and to determine the best treatment option for you.

  • Maintenance of wakefulness test examines how alert you are during the day and shows whether you can stay awake for a defined period of time. The test is an indicator of how well you can function and remain alert in quiet times of inactivity.
  • Multiple sleep latency test is used to evaluate excessive daytime sleepiness by measuring how quickly you fall asleep in a quiet environment during the day.
  • Polysomnography (PSG) is a sleep study that measures your sleep cycles and stages by tracking your breathing, blood oxygen levels, heart rate, eye and leg movements, brain activity and body positioning.
  • Sleep studies: In-lab sleep studies involve monitoring your movements, brain activity, oxygen levels and other behaviors as you sleep for one to two nights at one of our sleep clinics. Sleep studies provide your physician with a comprehensive evaluation of your sleep and they are an effective way to properly diagnose your sleep disorder. For certain patients, an at-home sleep study can be done from the comfort of your own home.

After your evaluation, your sleep medicine physician will receive a report, which will help determine the best treatment for your unique situation. We offer a variety of treatments including:

  • Bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPap) is a machine with two different pressures; a higher pressure when breathing in and a lower pressure when breathing out.
  • Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is a common treatment for sleep apnea. A CPAP machine delivers air pressure through a mask to prevent apnea and snoring.
  • Medication
  • Oral appliances
  • Surgery may be an option, but usually only after all other treatments have failed.