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www.thecitizen.comB6 | THE CITIZEN | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2009 ADVERTISING SECTION

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Insomnia is the number one sleep disorder. Over the past40 years sleep duration in the United States has decreased bytwo hours a night. Interestingly, studies have shown over theyears that people who sleep less than seven hours have ahigher mortality than the people who get seven to eight hoursof sleep. Insomnia is defined as difficulty in initiating and /or maintaining sleep despite adequate opportunities to sleep with the presence of daytime impairment. A person isconsidered an acute insomniac if their lack of sleep haspersisted for up to three months. While 40% of people fallinto the acute insomnia category 10% are chronic insomniacswho have had insomnia more than six months.

The prevalence of non-restorative sleep increases with ageand is more common in women. Fifty percent of womenexperience sleep disturbances during menstruation, seventynine percent during pregnancy, and thirty six percent duringmenopause. Some symptoms of insomnia may seem obvious:fatigue, mood disturbances and irritability; while others wemay not associate with our quality of sleep: decreasedmotivation and energy, social or functional problems,proneness to errors at work or while driving, muscle tension,headaches, elevated blood pressure, and even gastrointestinalproblems.

There are four main patterns of insomnia: 1. Difficultyinitiating sleep; 2. Difficulty maintaining sleep; 3. Awakeningearly and unable to sleep again; 4. Consistently non-restorative or poor sleep. Patterns of insomnia frequentlychange; however, many patients with depression may havesleep onset and maintenance insomnia, whereas both caffeineand alcohol cause insomnia in the second half of the night.Several different types of medications can cause insomnia with just a few being: antidepressants, bronchodilators, betablockers, corticosteroids, decongestants, and stimulants.Circadian disorders (abnormalities in the bodys internalclock) are caused by jet lag, shift work, and an irregular

sleep schedule.If you suspect you have insomnia see your doctor for a

thorough physical examination and diagnostic evaluation toconfirm that insomnia exists and to identify medicalconditions, psychiatric illnesses, other sleep disorders,medications, or substances that may be contributing to yourinsomnia.

Treatment for insomnia varies; however, first linetreatment is always good sleep hygiene. Ten basic steps you oryour loved ones can take to good sleep are: 1. Dont stay inbed too long; 2. Make sure you maintain the circadian cycle(avoid jet lag, shift work, irregular sleep schedule); 3. Avoidday time naps; 4. Avoid stimulants after lunch; 5. Dont takea toddy (alcohol) before bedtime; 6. Dont smoke; 7. Exerciseregularly and earlier in the day; 8. Dont go to bed hungry; 9.Dont watch TV or read in bed; 10. Keep the noise down andkeep the bedroom at a comfortable temperature.

Alpha Internal Medicine745 South Glynn Street Fayetteville

770-719-5490

AIM

Your lackof sleep may

be killing you.by

Coral Benge, PA-C

(Editors Note: The Breedlove family moved to PeachtreeCity temporarily so that theirson could receive therapeuticservices at Brain Balance.Following is an account oftheir experience written byLeslie Breedlove, mother ofMatthew.)

By LESLIE BREEDLOVESpecial to The Citizen

Its hard to believe that itwas only about nine monthsago that we got a call from oneof my husbands aunts tell-ing us about Brain Balance.She had attended one of the

centers monthly informationsessions and was impressed by

what she heard. After severalconversations with the staff atBrain Balance we decided tohave Matthew evaluated. Theonly problem was the center

was outside of Atlanta and we lived in Leawood, Kansas.However, we were intriguedby the new hemispheric braintheories that Brain Balancetalked about. We knew this

was going to work for Matthewand decided to begin our firstsession of Pre-Brain Balancein June 2008 in Peachtree City.The decision to relocate, tem-porarily, for this program was

not as difficult as you mightthink. Let me give you somebackground on why.

Matthew, our oldest son who is now seven years old,was diagnosed with moderateAutism at the age of two and ahalf. Like so many parents withchildren like ours, we began theprocess of hours/days/weeksof social skills classes, speechand occupational therapy andintensive ABA sessions. Allof these treatments helpedMatthew cope academicallyand socially, but we still feltthat he was somehow trappedinside this robotic presence.

When we learned about BrainBalance, the simplicity of theconcept was comforting to us.

We were encouraged by theirphilosophy to re-sync thebrain to alleviate the imbalance

that exacerbated Matthewsautistic behaviors and not justtreat the symptoms of Autism.

Dont be misled. Moving toPeachtree City was difficult.Trading our big , lovely homefor a small apartment, beingseparated from dear family andfriends in Kansas City, and ad-

justing to life in a new place wasnot an easy decision. However,it was something we felt com-pelled to do for Matthew. Wepacked up enough suppliesto last us six months as weheaded south. Lucki ly, I havea home-based business thatis flexible and can move withme. My husband, on the other

hand, is a high school teacherwho loves his job. We madethe decision that he would be

with us as much as possible inthe summer and then returnto Kansas in August to resumeteaching. Throughout thistime, we balanced the sessionsat Brain Balance with lots ofoutdoor activities. We bondedduring our long walks aroundthe lakes in town and spentcountless hours at JumpingJelly Beans where they haveinflatables for kids to releaseenergy and a moms room forme to read, make lists, meetother moms or work on mycomputer. We enrolled Mat-

thew and his younger brother,Ethan, in the local elementaryschool where they both madefast friends.

The first three months wesaw lots of regressive behav-iors, just like Mandy, the di-rector of Brain Balance had

warned. However, at the threemonth mark, our little man whorarely ventured out of his innerconversations began askingquestions. Simple phraseslike, What are YOU havingfor dinner? Where are we go-ing? What day is today? weremusic to our ears. We hadnever experienced a Matthewfully participatory in the worldaround him. Along with thequestions, Matthew beganshowing much more interestin playing with his little brotherand other kids at the play-

ground. In fact, just tonight wecame inside from our day andMatthew immediately turnedto me when he heard the kidsfrom downstairs playing balloutside, Mommycan I goplay with my friends? Thisis huge!

Yesterday I took him for thefirst time to the local gym andput him in the kids room withhis brother. We brought severalof his books to help him staybusy. While I was signing themin, Matthew walked up to alittle girl about his age in theroom and said, Can you readthis to me? I said, Matthew,introduce yourself. Whats

your name? he asked. I wasgrinning wildly as Matthewsaid, to his new friend, ImMatthew! This type of simpleinteraction would never haveoccurred before Brain Balance.

We have seen such enormouschanges in Matthew since webegan the program. Even hisdiet has changed as Matthewhas become more willing toaccept new tastes and flavors.Brain Balance has made a

world of difference to our son.Jeff and I feel like we are

throwing a life preserver to ourlittle man who was drowningin the diagnosis and cloud of

Autism. With the protocol at

Brain Balance, in concert with

the dietary and nutritionalinterventions, we feel like ourmove to Peachtree City hasbeen a minor sacrifice that ispaying off huge dividends.

We have ended our six monthstay in Peachtree City but willreturn for summer program-ming. What a journey this hasbeen. It has not been easy, but

with the support of our familyand friends back home and ournew Brain Balance family inGeorgia, we feel like we wouldmake this choice all over againbecause of the tremendousresponse we are seeing in ourson. Brain Balance was theright choice for our family andfor Matthew.

About Brain BalanceBrain Balance Achieve-

ment Center, 357 Hwy. 74 N,Peachtree City, uses a uniqueHemispheric Integration Pro-gram to resolve or improve

ADD, AD/HD, dyslexia, learn-ing disabilities, autism, As-pergers, Tourettes syndrome,and other neuro-behavioraldisorders. The Brain Balanceprogram has helped children

with neuro-behavioral deficitsimprove their academic, socialand behavioral functions usinga proprietary, non-medical ap-proach. For information, call770-631-3033 or visit www.

brainbalancecenters.com.

Matthew Breedlove at the beach with his family, before coming to Brain Balance. Photo/Special.

Matthew Breedlove, alert and aware of his surroundings, withhis father and brother, after receiving services at Brain Balance.Photo/Special.

Kansas family sees results from Brain Balance

Feeling unconnected withfamily, friends, colleagues andmany essential conveniences ofmodern life such as cell phonesand TVs is a concern voiced bymany people who come to Dr.

Andrew Waits office in Fayette-ville seeking help.

Even a mild hearing losscan make it challenging to

distinguish speech and othersounds in the environment,so that it becomes difficult tounderstand what is going on,explained Dr. Waits. The resultis that people with untreatedhearing loss often end up feel-ing flawed and isolated.

One possible solution isDual. The small and stylishDual is available in 14 attrac-tive colors from tasteful butbold fashion colors to shadesthat complement natural skintones. The Dual family ofhearing devices can accom-modate over 80 percent ofhearing losses and a broadrange of listening preferencesand budgets.

Even before people cometo appreciate the consider-

able benefits of Duals ad-vanced technology, they arewow-ed by its small, sleekdesign that fits discreetly andalmost invisibly behind theear, said Dr. Waits. Dr. Waitsadvises patients not to thinkthat the new hearing solutionslight, comfortable fit make it alightweight when it comes to

delivering a closer-to-naturallistening experience.Dual helps people with

hearing loss to hear betterand understand more spoken

words in any listening envi-ronment, even in challenginglistening environments likerestaurants and social gather-ings, he points out. Two Dualhearing devices actually talk toeach other, simulating the waythe brain naturally processessounds coming from differentdirections. By operating as avirtual sound compass, Dualenables wearers to more easilyidentify who is talking, espe-cially when voices or soundscome from different areas ofthe room.

For more information about

hearing loss and the new Oti-con Dual, contact Dr. Waits at

770-461-0043.

New technology, Dual, wows the hearing impaired

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