Sleeping: you’ve done it since you were a baby and it may seem like the easiest thing to do.
Until it isn’t.
That’s where a sleep specialist can help patients regain restful slumber.
Sleep specialists range from doctors who have training in physiology, pathology of the neurological system, and sleep or they could be “sleep coaches” whose training may be much less medical in nature.
“As a sleep health educator, we can be proactive in promoting health,” said Misol Kwon, Ph.D. and registered nurse research project assistant and data analysist at UB who educates on sleep health. “Sleep, nutrition and exercise are considered the three pillars to support physical wellness. But when someone says, ‘I slept three hours last night,’ it doesn’t get the same reaction as, ‘I ate candy bars yesterday,’ or ‘I have a gym membership that I never use.’ We’re tolerant of sleep deprivation as a society. We equal pulling an all-nighter as being highly productive.”
One of her professional goals is to help people view sleep as vital to good health, backed up with research to show the science behind sleep’s benefits. She also said that sleep experts can help influence policies such as school hours and Daylight Saving Time.
Sleep specialist is a sub-specialty of specialties such as neurologist, otolaryngologist or pulmonologist. University of Rochester Medical Center offers a sleep specialist program after residency training. About 140 people complete the training each year and typically work in private practice or in academia.
“I love getting up every morning and doing what I do and expanding our current knowledge of circadian rhythm,” Kwon said. “Sleep is a relatively new field, two or three decades old. Every day we want to generate new science and implement things like behavior intervention for people’s health and well being.”
Sleep specialists also directly work with clients, such as Soda Kuczkowski, sleep health educator, certified sleep coach and founder and owner of Start with Sleep, LLC in Buffalo.
She has worked in the industry for almost 18 years, initially at a diagnostic sleep testing facility, educating and supporting physician offices, hospitals, and community organizations about the risks of undiagnosed medical sleep disorders.
During that time, she started to self-educate and seek additional training on sleep health education to better support patients. Eventually, she opened Start With Sleep, LLC to meet this need.
“I am very passionate about the subject and engaging the community in meaningful conversations about the importance of sleeping well as it helps to manage and maintain our overall health and well-being,” Kuczkowski said. “Sleep is the investment in the energy you need to be effective tomorrow.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t collect employment data for sleep specialists, since the specialty can be applied to so many different types of careers in a variety of environments.
According to Glassdoor.com, the estimated pay of a sleep specialist is $58,440 annually and for a sleep medicine physician, $253,914 per year. Salary.com listed the average salary for a sleep technician as $62,101. Specialists may work in a variety of settings, including as sleep coach or educator. Technicians likely work in a sleep lab of a hospital or outpatient setting as part of a team of providers. Sleep medicine physicians may teach or head sleep medicine departments.