Delegate: SAMSON KHACHATRYAN
Affiliation: ARMENIAN SLEEP DISORDERS ASSOCIATION
Activities: Interview, School Visit, and Seminar
March 19, 2021
Interview
The president of Armenian Sleep Disorders Association started the World Sleep Day with a live interview on the Republican Radio of Armenia. The health-related radio-program called “I am healthy” hosted Dr. Samson Khachatryan at 11 AM live. The interview was mostly concentrated on the importance of sleep, idea of healthy sleep, maintenance of sleep regimen, adherence to sleep hygiene rules, and also several sleep disorders were highlighted.
Dr. Khachatryan presented the study on sleep disorders before and during COVID-19 lockdown era in Armenia performed by his research team. The data triggered questions from the audience which were answered according to the latest accumulated evidence on sleep disorders in the times of COVID-19 pandemic. Also, Dr. Khachatryan spoke about sleep apnea and its importance in everyday lives of people suffering from this sleep disorder.
School visit
An important part of this year’s WSD activity was increasing the awareness among school-age children, their parents and teachers. Dr. Khachatryan organized a special lecture-interactive session with them at one of the most progressive schools of Yerevan – The “Mkhitar Sebastatsi Educational Complex”. It was an active discussion with the schoolchildren and their parents about importance of sleep, sleep hygiene, and overall role of parents’ sleep for children.
Seminar “Sleep disorders in clinical practice”
We aimed to dedicate WSD 2021 to educate physicians more about sleep. Due to Armenian Sleep Disorders Association initiative it was possible to organize an in-person meeting on 19th March, 2021. The meeting qualified for accepted standards against COVID-19 spread. The target audience consisted of neurologists, pediatric neurologists, and family physicians. Overall 50 participants attended our meeting. Attendance was free of charge. The meeting consisted of six talks – 25 minutes each with time reserved for discussion with audience.
The main goal of the meeting was to spread more information regarding sleep health and sleep disturbances among health professionals, thus raising awareness about sleep in the healthcare setting.
The ARSDA president Dr. Samson Khachatryan presented an opening speech and highlighted the importance of raising awareness about sleep. Ms. Haykuhi Hovakimyan a clinical psychologist shared her experience on the role of sleep and sleep disorders in healthcare and their social aspects, as she is involved in sleep medicine and sleep research. Then, Ms. Hovakimyan presented a talk on insomnia by answering the following questions: insomnia as a distinctive disorder, etiology and clinical features of insomnia, the 3P model, and non-pharmacological treatment of insomnia. The pharmacotherapy of insomnia was presented in detail by Dr. Samson Khachatryan, with a special focus on European insomnia guidelines. A short break was followed by a lecture on an essential topic presented by Dr. Lusine Vardanyan – what should we know about sleep apnea. Zaruhi Tavadyan, who is a specialist in the movement disorders field having a special focus on non-motor symptoms of Parkinson disease, presented a talk on REM sleep parasomnias. The speaker engaged the audience with a video session of clinical cases of patients with REM sleep behavior disorder. The final lecture on restless legs syndrome was delivered to the audience by Dr. Samson Khachatryan. The talk included essential information regarding RLS diagnosis and treatment, as well as the accompanying video session eased the recognition of motor signs of RLS. The audience was very satisfied with agenda and showed high interest in sleep-related topics followed by discussions. Participants had been asking in-depth questions, and nearly each session was followed by interactive conversation with speakers. The attendees were given 3 CME credits by the Armenian NIH, and received certificates confirming their participation in this event.
March 20-21, 2021
Sleep disorders and sleep hygiene for Artsakh war veterans and medical staff
In the frames of World Sleep Day on March 20, 2021, Dr. Samson Khachatryan with other active members of ARSDA, psychologists and neurology residents, organized a seminar for the medical staff working at “Lernayin Hayastan” Military rehabilitation center, in Dilijan, Armenia. The participants included psychiatrists, neurologists and clinical psychologists working with the recent Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war veteran soldiers.
The organizers presented several state-of-the-art lectures on main sleep disorders, talked about importance of sleep, sleep disorders and pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments specifically addressing the peculiarities of working with the military. The main topics were Insomnia and Cognitive-behavioural therapy for Insomnia, parasomnias, types of sleep-related movement disorders.
On March 21st Haykuhi Hovakimyan who is a clinical psychologist doing CBT-I at the Somnus Clinic Sleep Disorders Center, presented on sleep and sleep hygiene for soldiers, who were recovering at “Lernayin Hayastan” Rehabilitation center after Artsakh war. All important points of sleep hygiene were presented and thoroughly discussed with soldiers and doctors.
Location: Armenia
Date of Activity: March 19-21, 2021
Submitted by: Samson G. Khachatryan MD PhD
