Lombard sleep center, “Biggest Loser” contestant teach importance of shut-eye

Donna Pavisic wonders whether she even knows what it feels like to be truly awake.

“I think I get a good night’s sleep, but a half an hour after I get up in the morning, I’m tired again,” she said.

In 1992, former “Biggest Loser” contestant Ron Morelli wondered the same thing.

But then, the 56-year-old Michigan man was diagnosed with sleep apnea. He began using a device dubbed a CPAP machine that applies “continuous positive airway pressure.” It helped him to breathe — and sleep — easier.

“Everything was easier,” Morelli said. “All of a sudden, you’re wide-awake. You’re alert.”

Pavisic, who also has been diagnosed with sleep apnea, realized the connection between her situation and that of the former “Biggest Loser” contestant when Morelli spoke recently at an event sponsored by the Elmhurst Memorial Sleep Center in Lombard.

Called “Get Fit for a Better Night’s Sleep,” the free event allowed attendees to learn about the connections between sleep disorders and weight problems and compile goody bags of mini pillows and sleep masks.

Pavisic, 63, of Elmhurst, attended because she wanted more information about her sleep apnea diagnosis and treatment options. She said she’s working to lose weight, which may cure or improve her sleep apnea, and she doesn’t want to use a CPAP machine unless she really has to. The machine requires users sleep with a mask every night.

Morelli and the sleep center’s medical director, Dr. Phil Cozzi, advised Pavisic that if she tries a CPAP machine, she’ll be glad she did.

“I think it’s going to aid in your weight-loss journey,” Morelli said while speaking in front of a room of about 70 people. “Once you realize how much better you sleep, you can deal with all the other parts.”

Even though Morelli has had sleep apnea for 18 years, it wasn’t until he competed on season seven of the “Biggest Loser” in 2008 that he learned how important shut-eye is to weight loss.

“I can’t say enough about the benefits of great sleep,” Morelli said.

Cozzi said quality sleep allows the energy for quality exercise, which helps with weight loss.

“There’s a relationship between sleep and obesity and it goes like this: People who are more tired are eating more,” Cozzi said.

In turn, weight loss may help lessen the symptoms of sleep apnea, which causes people to stop breathing for periods of time while snoozing. In Morelli’s first sleep test, he stopped breathing 385 times — once for 90 seconds. In Pavisic’s, she stopped breathing an average of 49 times an hour.

“Sleep apnea is really due to soft tissue that infiltrates the airway,” Cozzi said.

People who aren’t overweight are less likely to have soft tissue problems, he added.

After listening to Morelli and Cozzi, Pavisic said the connection between sleep issues and being overweight became clearer.

“Fatigue is a factor in so many things, and they all tie in pretty good with losing weight,” Pavisic said.

It’s a goal she’s striving for, stopping to walk on a treadmill or swim at an LA Fitness location in Oak Brook she passes on her way home from work.

She also scheduled a second sleep study at the sleep center in Lombard and may buy a CPAP machine if the study confirms her need for it.

Gaining such an understanding of the importance of sleep is becoming more common, Cozzi said.

“People can be living with these phenomena … where they’ve had a pathological sleepiness, a malaise that they’ve come to feel is normal for them,” Cozzi said. “People are becoming more and more aware of the impact of sleep on their lives.”