University and hospital join forces for new project on obstructive sleep apnoea

Professor Greg Atkinson from the Health and Social Care Institute is leading a new project in collaboration with sleep experts at James Cook University Hospital.

Professor Atkinson has researched the body clock for over 25 years and has now joined forces with Professor Gerry Danjoux who heads up the Sleep Medicine Unit at the James Cook University Hospital (JCUH).

The JCUH has a strong reputation for sleep medicine - the President of the British Sleep Society, Dr Paul Redding is a consultant neurologist there. Professor Danjoux is a Visiting Professor in the Health and Social Care Institute and has established a successful collaboration with Professor Alan Batterham, who is also on the project team alongside Dr Louisa Ells.

Teesside University has provided three years of funding for a PhD student, Sophie Suri to research the links between physical activity, obesity and obstructive sleep apnoea.

Obstructive sleep apnoea is the name of the syndrome where the upper airways partially or completely collapse during sleep, leading to the person waking up, sometimes more than 30 times per hour.

People with sleep apnoea are at an increased risk of developing a high blood pressure and having a stroke or heart attack. They also find it very difficult to stay alert during the daytime because of the sleep disruption. Obesity is an important predictor of obstructive sleep apnoea.

Diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnoea is difficult and can involve costly overnight monitoring in a sleep medicine laboratory. Part of the project focusses on other ways of diagnosing obstructive sleep apnoea and exploring whether physical inactivity and/or being unfit makes the symptoms worse.

Ultimately, the project team want to see if a supervised exercise programme can make symptoms of obstructive sleep apnoea better.

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