That’s a good question. How often do I bring up sleep or how often do I ask about sleep when I’m pulling for general health? I try to get to it in every preventative health visit, every six-month or once a year visit with my patients. I’ll usually try to approach it a couple different times just to ask are they going to bed, are they satisfied with sleep and when are they waking up. The other thing I’m looking for is not just the patient who’s having trouble sleeping, the patient with insomnia but also people who are chronically shortening their sleep cycle who are setting their alarm too early and going to bed too late. This can lead to a nice conversation about the importance of sleep and the steps they can take on their own to get a good night’s sleep: not leaving the TV on; not looking at bright screens such as IPads and IPhone right before bed; how much caffeine are they getting . . . because all these small things can lead to deteriorated sleep or changes in sleep architecture that is really limited their ability to get a good night’s sleep.
