Delegate: Sapna Erat Sreedharan
Affiliation: Comprehensive Centre for Sleep disorders,Department of Neurology,Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology,Trivandrum,India
Short Bio: I am Professor in the Department of Neurology,working in Comprehensive Centre for Sleep disorders and Stroke division for the last 10 years.At Sleep subdivision,we have a weekly sleep clinic catering to patients ,both adults and children with different sleep problems,mainly sleep apnea,insomnia,narcolepsy and parasomnias.We also have a 2 bedded sleep lab with facilities for doing level 1 PSG and act as a major referral centre in our state for Sleep disorders.
I have also published on our experience with OSA and central hypersomnolence in indexed journals and was member of World Sleep Academy writing group and contributed to the chapter on Parasomnias.I am also currently a member of guidelines committee of Indian Academy of Neurology on Sleep disorders.
Activity: WORLD SLEEP DAY ACTIVITIES-SREE CHITRA TIRUNAL INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY,TRIVANDRUM-11,INDIA
World sleep day activities in Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum, India started with a live phone-in program on the eve of World Sleep day,16th March 2023 which was done by Dr Sapna Erat Sreedharan, Professor of Neurology and in-charge of Comprehensive Centre for Sleep disorders, Department of Neurology which was telecast in our national television-Doordarshan-Kerala in the local language-Malayalam. It was a 1 hour interactive live program on the subject “Sleep and Health” and Dr Sapna discussed the significance of the day and its theme, importance of healthy sleep and a brief overview of common sleep problems. It was accompanied by live Q&A session, with 6 callers from different parts of the state calling to get expert opinion on sleep related issues. The talk is uploaded in YouTube by the channel for public information.
Comprehensive Centre for Sleep disorders, Department of Neurology, Division of Sleep research, Biomedical Technology Wing and Nursing Division, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum celebrated World Sleep day on March 17,2023 with a public interactive program at Auditorium -2 of the hospital. The program was presided by the Director of the Institute Dr Sanjay Behari, who spoke in length about the significance of third Friday of March in relation to the ancient wisdom and Astronomy-the auspicious day of spring equinox, when day and night are of exactly same length, which marks the auspicious beginning of spring across the country and the world shifts from the slumber of winter to the bright colors and vibrancy of spring. He spoke on the recent advances in understanding of sleep and need for more research on the subject in our scenario.
Dr Kamalesh K Gulia,Scientist of the Division of Sleep research with special research interest in neurodevelopmental outcome and autonomic nervous system maturation in association with sleep in pregnancy spoke about the importance of World sleep day in the current times, with increasing use of gadgets, sleep deprivation and stressful lifestyle.
A poster competition on the theme “Sleep is essential for Health” was held for the staff and students of the Institute and the prizes were distributed on the ceremony along with display of the posters in the patient waiting areas. Dr Kamalesh K Gulia ,Scientist who had authored a book on healthy sleep for children released a copy on the occasion. It was followed by a series of health talks covering different aspects of sleep. Significance of healthy sleep for brain health, and how slow wave sleep helps in memory building and repair of tissues was explained by Dr Sapna Erat Sreedharan,Professor of Neurology and in-charge of Comprehensive Sleep disorders Centre. Dr Raviprasad Varma, Additional Professor of Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies, the public health wing of the Institute spoke about the hidden insomnia pandemic ,which affects around 17% of people attending Primary Health Centers of the state of Kerala, as per a latest study. He also highlighted the fact that over half of our school going children aged 12-15 years report sleeping <6 hours per night, which is much lower that the recommended night sleep, which may lead to rising incidence of sleep disorders, once they grow up. Dr Narayanan Namboodiri, Professor of Cardiology and internationally acclaimed electrophysiologist spoke about the close link of sleep disorders, especially Sleep apnea and cardiac health. He discussed about his 2 patients who experienced nocturnal bradyarrhythmia’s and atrial fibrillation, in whom the diagnosis of OSA and its management resulted in control of cardiac rhythm abnormalities on long run.
One of the patients of the Sleep clinic Mr. Davis spoke about his long journey with obstructive sleep apnea ,how it affected his night sleep and risk factor control and how it was managed .This was followed by distribution of 2 CPAP machines to our needy patients donated by a patient, who was diagnosed with OSA and had benefitted from CPAP therapy.
The program was attended by over 60 people, which included patients, their caregivers, staff and students of Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology and concluded with a dance-skit performance by Cardiac and Neuronursing students of the Institute on the theme of World Sleep day.
Location: Trivandrum,Kerala
Date of Activity: 17.03.2023
Submitted by: Sapna Erat Sreedharan
