The SleepCare Center - Helping Adults and Children in Greater Mercer County Get a Better Night's Rest

A State-of-the-Art SleepCare Center in Your Own Backyard
The SleepCare Center at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton (RWJ Hamilton) is a state-of-the-art overnight and daytime sleep study facility located at West Lake Office Building, 1 Union Street, Robbinsville, New Jersey. The Center is accredited by the American Academy of Sleep medicine, meaning it meets the nation's highest standards for sleep programs. At this truly comprehensive center for adults and children, the science of sleep is taken to a new level.

Pictured left to right, Dr. Sherene El-Sioufi and Dr. Mahmood I. Siddique.

A Bad Night's Sleep is a Danger to Your Health
If you have trouble sleeping, you are not alone. In fact, an estimated 100 million Americans regularly fail to get a good night's sleep. Approximately 70 million suffer from chronic sleep disorders and about 95 percent of these cases go untreated. Not sleeping well is more than just an inconvenience, however. Each year, 200,000 automobile accidents are sleep-related and obstructive sleep apnea—one of the most common sleep disorders— accounts for more than 38,000 cardiovascular deaths. Fortunately, sleep disorders can be diagnosed and treated.

Signs of sleep disorders

• Tiredness during the day
• Loud snoring
• Waking up choking or gasping
• Not feeling rested during the day
• A strong desire to take a daily afternoon nap
• Unexplained accidents or errors
• Morning headaches

Optimal Sleep, Optimal You
Do you want to be alert, dynamic, full of energy, happy, productive, creative and healthy? If so, you need to get optimal sleep.

• Get an adequate amount of sleep every night. What's adequate? Enough for you to be fully alert all day long.
• Establish a regular sleep schedule. Go to bed at the same time every night and awake without an alarm every morning, including weekends.
• Get continuous sleep. Six hours of good, solid sleep is more rejuvenating than eight hours of poor, fragmented sleep.
• Make up for lost sleep. Sleep loss is cumulative, so pay back your sleep debt.

Just What the Doctor Ordered
If you think you may suffer from a sleep disorder, your first step is to discuss your concerns with your primary care physician. Your primary care physician can then refer you to see a sleep specialist.

What to Expect from a Sleep Study
While visiting the Center, you will sleep in a private room with a warm, cozy atmosphere. Each room contains a queen bed, private bathroom and flatscreen TV. Just like at home, you can have free evening snacks and a free coupon for breakfast in the morning. A specially trained sleep technician will apply sensors to your body that will measure brain waves, eye movements, muscle tone, heart rate, respiration, blood oxygen levels and more. The technician will monitor your progress throughout the night. Should a physician recommend a sleep study, the study can be conducted through the SleepCare Center. For more information or to schedule a sleep study, call (866) SLEEP40 or (866) 753-3740.

SleepCare Center Support Groups and Programs

• CPAP Workshop - A free Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) workshop held the third Thursday of the month at 6 p.m. A respiratory therapist will provide CPAP/BiPAP education, adjust CPAP pressures and refit masks.
• AWAKE (Alert, Well And Keeping Energetic) - Dr. Siddique leads this health awareness group for people affected by sleep apnea and other sleep disorders. For more information, call (609) 584-6681.

Center Offers Pediatric Sleep Speciality: Think Sleep Problems before ADHD
Is your child hyperactive or having trouble paying attention in school? Before you think that your child has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), consider the very real possibility that a sleep disorder may be at the root of the issue. These symptoms may indicate a sleep disorder such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Children with OSA often exhibit more subtle daytime symptoms such as agitation, attention deficits, difficult behavior and poor school performance. Sleep specialist Sherene El-Sioufi, DO, board certified in sleep medicine, has recently joined the staff at the SleepCare Center. Dr. El-Sioufi, who has a special interest in treating pediatric sleep disorders, recommends that children exhibiting any of the following symptoms should be considered prime candidates for evaluation: Snoring with a history of difficulty breathing during sleep, impaired behavioral indicators such as poor grades, agitation/attention deficit problems or hyperactivity. Although snoring is the major symptom of childhood OSA, most snoring children do not have OSA. In fact, about 70-80 percent of children who snore nightly do not have OSA and do not need surgical reatment with adenotonsillectomy. Sleep Studies Are Essential Tools Childhood OSA cannot be reliably diagnosed by clinical history and physical examination alone. However, a comprehensive program that includes the use of sleep studies has been shown to result in definitive diagnoses and is considered the diagnostic tool of choice for evaluating OSA.

More About RWJ Hamilton
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton (RWJ Hamilton) is the only New Jersey hospital to receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Located in Hamilton Township, NJ, the hospital is part of the RWJ Health System and Network and is affiliated with the University of Medicine and Dentistry New Jersey-RWJ Medical School and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey.

The RWJ Hamilton Health Care Corporation serves communities within a five-county area and includes an acute care hospital, the Cancer Institute of New Jersey Hamilton, three affiliated medical groups, seven Lakeview Child Centers, and the RWJ Hamilton Center for Health & Wellness, home of a medically-based fitness center and the hospital's extensive community education program. Over 1,900 hospital employees and 650 medical staff physicians share RWJ Hamilton's passion for Excellence Through Service. For more information, visit www.rwjhamilton.org.