Watch Out Bears! Roopra Lab Heading to the Northwoods

Today's the day when the scientists from the Avtar Roopra lab at the UW SMPH Department of Neuroscience, hang up their white lab coats for the weekend, pull on some plaid and flap hats and head to the Nicolet National Forest to talk science (and drink a bit) with Dual Sport Riders. I went last year and it was cool to pull into Wabeno and see the sign welcoming UW cancer researchers.  Dr. Roopra gave a talk about his latest research on a particularly nasty type of breast cancer at the local firehouse. Every year the bikers ride through the forest to raise money for cancer research. It's a wonderful two-way relationship and last summer, some of the bikers even came to the PhD defense of Dr. Roopra's student Matt Wagoner. This is a great example of the Wisconsin Idea, extending the boundaries of the university to the borders of Wisconsin. It's also really fun.

Snoring for Science

I am whatever is the opposite of a hypochondriac. (A denialist?) I work with some of the world's top sleep researchers, both on the clinical side at Wisconsin Sleep as well as the basic researchers at the UW Center for Sleep and Consciousness
I've also written about the research coming out of the unique Wisconsin Sleep Cohort study, which has been following the health of people for more than 20 years. I myself wrote about a number of studies that show that people who snore loudly and experience sleep apnea have a host of medical problems and are now dying much younger 
than people who don't snore. And do I snore? No, according to me. Yes, according to my children and my spouse, who luckily sleeps like a dead pig and so isn't bothered by it. Did I put together my medical knowlege from the sleep cohort studies and my own reported sounds of snorting and rumbling? No.

But my kids kept nagging at me (and rudely waking me up all night long.) So I finally mentioned it to my family doctor. I figured she would laugh it off. But no, and she sent me to the Wisconsin Sleep clinic where I was wired and glued and strapped up for a night of not-so-peaceful sleep.

It turns out I stop breathing on average of 12 times an hour and during REM sleep, up to 40 times a hour. During this time my blood oxygen dips as low as 87%. This was bad enough that I was prescribed a C-PAP machine, which blast air into your nose and mouth through a mask. Now, instead of sounding like a truck driver, I look and sound like Darth Vader. But my family assures me that it is a much nicer than my former sounds. When I fall asleep without it, they wake me up and remind me.

It takes some getting used to, but I do wake up in the morning feeling less grumpy and trashed than I normally feel. Check back when I go in for my checkup in July to see if the doctors can tell if it's working.