Rene Rubira might be a familiar face to some at the Twentynine palms Senior Center. Rene has volunteered with Meals on Wheels as well as cooking at the center for the last few years. But what they may not know is that Rene is also a sleep health consultant with over 20 years of experience in sleep medicine, and he’s holding an information session called the “Restful Nights Program” – where he’ll be discussing the importance of healthy sleep and how sleep apnea can be a harmful interruption that you may not even be aware of…
Rene Rubira: “Sleep apnea is a complete cessation of breathing for a minimum of 10 seconds. Usually the person that has sleep apnea usually doesn’t feel like they have a sleep problem and that they ‘sleep fine.’ But we’re trying to focus on quality sleep… deep sleep… restorative sleep.
“As you’re transitioning through your sleep cycle which is light, deep and the dream state… if you have one of these apnea events where you start choking, that causes a person to fall back in their sleep cycle. Maybe you were in deep (sleep), but now you are in the light stage (again).”
That drop in the quality of your sleep can cause you to feel groggy and tired in the morning, even if you think you got a full eight hours. Longer term, sleep apnea can cause stress on your heart which has to work harder each time your sleep is interrupted by an apnea event.
“Getting tested is very important, just so that individual knows what’s going on with their sleep and then you can take that information and speak with your doctor and get the help that you deserve.
“Everybody should get great sleep.”
Friday’s free sleep apnea screening and info session starts at 9:30 a.m. and goes until 11:00 a.m. It’s at the Twentynine Palms Senior Center but all ages are welcome.
The event is taking place in collaboration with Reach Out Morongo Basin, which can be contacted at 760-361-1410. If you can’t make it to the event but want more info on sleep apnea and the screenings, you can contact Rene at [email protected]
