Job spotlight with Letitia Houston, clinical director at Chattahoochee Sleep Center

As the daughter of a prominent Columbus physician, Letitia Houston knows what it takes to run a medical office. So, she and her husband, Bryant, opened the Chattahoochee Sleep Center in August 2011.

Houston, the center's clinical director, said her father, Dr. Thomas Nathan Malone, a local OB-GYN, inspired her to become a physician assistant. After returning from graduate school in 1996, she worked in his private practice for five years. Her mother, Carolia, who manages the office, was also a great role model.

"Being that I'm from Columbus and that my father is here and already has a medical background, I already knew some of the people in the medical community," she said. "It has worked out quite well."

The sleep center, located at 2410 Double Churches Road, offers diagnostic testing and treatment for sleep disorders in a hotel-like setting. Patients come to the center in their pajamas to sleep like they normally do. Electrodes are hooked up to their bodies, and technicians monitor sleep patterns via computers.

Within a couple of days, test results are reviewed by Dr. Jonathan Liss, a local neurologist who serves as the center's medical director and sleep specialist.

Amenities in the private sleeping rooms include queen-sized orthopedic beds, internet access, remote controlled TVs and private bathrooms. In the mornings, patients are served a continental breakfast.

Houston said she began to notice the negative impact of sleep deficits while providing health care to women in Chicago. Many of her patients suffered from insomnia, sleep apnea and other disorders that eventually led to more serious problems.

Houston said her sister-in-law runs a sleep center outside Detroit, and she and her husband figured one would work well in Columbus. The local center is now accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, and it serves both adults and children.

"We're basically the only independent sleep center in Columbus, outside of the hospitals," Houston said. "My husband has a business acumen background. I am a physician assistant by trade. And we just wanted to bring that expertise to the area."

The following are Houston's views on sleep and life at the center, with some light editing for length and clarity:

What are the most common sleeping disorders that you treat?

We treat insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, periodic limb movement disorders, narcolepsy, night terrors, post-traumatic stress disorders and things like that.

You mentioned PTSD. Since we're in an area with so much military, is that a big population that you serve?

We do have a large number of military that come through our lab and PTSD is a large diagnosis for some. However, obstructive sleep apnea is the major one, even for the military. Sometimes you can even find psychiatric diagnoses like anxiety or depression and the patient doesn't even know about it. But you can find out with the sleep study.

How do you get your clients?

Patients can be referred by their physicians or come in on their own. We do an initial free consultation to see if they need a sleep study. The study costs about $3,000 and is usually covered by insurance. But if they don't have insurance we will work with them. I don't think we have ever turned anybody away.

What services do you provide?

We provide typical sleep studies where you have a PSG, which is a polysomnography exam. And that's basically a baseline study

where the patient comes in and we monitor them. During the time of sleep, you could have what's called a split-night sleep study, or Continuous Positive Air Pressure is introduced. That's when we find that the patient has become apneic. They stop breathing, so they need to have that special flow of air. We provide more oxygen so they can breathe better. And usually that will help with some of the snoring.

I had one lady say her husband snores like a choo-choo train. But after the study, she was so happy because it was silent and she was able to sleep. That's typically what happens.

How are people helped to sleep at the lab? Do they doze off naturally?

Basically we try to do like lights-out type scenarios.

But sometimes people who may have problems with going to sleep at 10 o'clock, they may want to go to sleep at one. It just depends on the actual study and what situation they're going through and what sleep disorder they have. But we try make it a natural way of them falling asleep.

Does it have to be done at nighttime?

Nighttime, or sometimes you might have someone who literally works at night and they sleep through the day. So, we cater to their schedule. They can come in the daytime and do a sleepover.

And there are some tests available for narcolepsy or any type of sleeping problems where people just start to nod off during the day. So, we also do daytime sleep studies, where we document to see what is causing the person to nod off.

Why is sleep so important?

It's the body's way of healing. It's recuperation time. You need to have that. Because if you eventually don't get the sleep that you need, the body's going to break down and take it from you. And how it breaks down is through hypertension, obesity, heart disease.

You open the door to cancer, diabetes things like that. So, it's very crucial for you to get your typical sleep."

How important is sleep for brain function?

If you don't get good sleep, your body can't function on a regular basis. So that does affect your memory. It does affect your cognitive ability. It does affect being able to work and function appropriately.

What steps should people take to get better sleep?

When it's time to go to bed, it's time to go to bed. Close that book or turn off the TV. That's especially important for children because they will stay up all night playing little video games and with their tablets and so forth. They have to wake up early and go to school the next day, then the teachers complain that the children are nodding off and having behavioral problems. It could be because of not getting enough sleep and not having a good sleep hygiene, meaning taking away those parameters that could cause you not to have good sleep.

What do you like most about your job?

My favorite part is when a patient comes and says, 'I can sleep now.' That's when I'm happy. Sometimes I'll come in the early mornings when the techs are here with the patients just to say 'hello' and 'thank you so much for coming to the lab.' And we have a continental breakfast for them, so we'll sit down and eat breakfast. It's good to hear them say, 'Wow, that was wonderful. I felt I really had a good night's sleep, for the first time in a long time.'

Why do you think so many people are suffering from sleep disorders?

It's probably because of not having good sleep hygiene throughout the years. Obesity, you know, that's also a big problem. As you get older, the muscles in the back of your throat tend to relax a little bit more. And you can have problems there. If you have obesity with small children, and they continue to become obese adults, they more likely will end up with obstructive sleep apnea. And that opens the door to a lot of other problems. Because you're not getting enough oxygen it basically shuts down all your organs. Eventually it can be life-threatening.

What free advice can you offer to people having trouble sleeping?

You typically want to get at least 8-10 hours of sleep. But who actually does that?

The best sleep you're going to get in your lifetime is as an infant. They sleep, and know what to do. We need to basically mimic them. We teach our children so many things when they are little, they can also teach us.

This story was originally published June 10, 2013 at 9:20 PM with the headline "Job spotlight with Letitia Houston, clinical director at Chattahoochee Sleep Center ."