Samuel Briggs
Oral Health Quality of Life (OHRQoL) Is a Psychosocial Instrument. We Keep Reading It as a Dental One.
Restore the dentition, and quality of life follows. The claim is old enough to be furniture. It sits in geriatric dentistry syllabi, in long-term-care oral hygiene protocols, and in the justification…
What the Fecal Transplant Insomnia Trial Actually Showed — and What Happened When I Tried the Grocery-Store Version
The number that got my attention was fourteen. That's roughly how many percentage points of sleep efficiency a small randomized trial reported gaining in adults with chronic insomnia after a course of…
I Slept in a Lab and at Home to Compare Sleep Apnea Diagnosis: Both Tests, Reviewed
My apnea-hypopnea index came back at 34. That means, on average, my breathing stalled or collapsed 34 times an hour — roughly once every 108 seconds, all night, for years, without my knowing.
Insomnia Treatment That Actually Works: What the Order of Operations Should Be
The most common insomnia treatment in America is a small oblong pill, and the second most common is a slightly larger one.
CPAP Equipment Care: What to Tell the Patient Who Is Convinced the Machine Is the Problem
There is a version of the sleep apnea patient you have probably met. She has read the manual twice. She keeps distilled water in a labeled jug.
When the Airway Closes: Sleep Apnea and the Mind That Wakes Up Anxious
The number on the borrowed pulse oximeter was 88 percent. Then 84. Then, once, a red 79 that I didn't see live because I was, by definition, asleep — I read it off the exported graph the next morning…
I Took Two Home Sleep Tests and One Lab Study to Decode My Sleep Apnea Diagnosis
The standard advice is simple enough to fit on a pharmacy pamphlet: get a sleep study, read your AHI number, and let the number tell you how bad your sleep apnea is.
CPAP Masks Have Quietly Gotten Small: What Comfort Actually Depends On
The picture in your head is probably twenty years old. A hard shell strapped over the whole face, a corrugated hose the diameter of a garden pipe, a hum like a small refrigerator.
I Tracked My CPAP AHI Every Night for 90 Days to See If the Standard Sleep Apnea Advice Holds Up
The standard advice, the kind you'll get from a support forum or a hurried follow-up call, goes like this: if your CPAP reports an AHI under 5, your therapy is working, and you should stop staring at…