Star 94 Mornings co-hosts Cindy and Jimmy undergo a sleep study

Cindy and Jimmy co-host radio show Star 94 Mornings. Their workday begins long before most people wake up.

To accommodate the early work schedule, Jimmy wakes up at 3:45 a.m. each workday. He’s able to take a nap during the day to squeeze in time for lost sleep. As a mom, Cindy doesn't have time for naps. Instead, she goes to bed earlier in the evening.

No matter how they try to catch up, Cindy and Jimmy agree on one thing: They always feel tired.

“It’s punishing,” says Jimmy. “It constantly feels like you have jetlag. That’s how you feel all the time – kind of like you’re in a fog.”

The co-hosts decided to undergo a sleep study at Piedmont. They wanted to determine whether sleep issues caused their exhaustion or if their nontraditional work schedules were to blame.

“You always hear stories in the news about how if you don’t get enough sleep, you’re going to have a heart attack, have a stroke or gain weight,” Jimmy says. “Sleep is like gold to us. Anything we can do to improve the quality of our sleep, we wanted to do.”

Jimmy’s sleep study results

Aris Iatridis, M.D., a sleep medicine specialist at Piedmont, told Jimmy he has a mild form of sleep apnea. Sleep apnea occurs when an adult stops breathing for short periods of time during sleep.

Dr. Iatridis explained that during the study, Jimmy only slept five or six hours. During this time, his airways shut down about 70 times.

“What shocked me was how many times I woke up in the middle of the night,” Jimmy says. “I think it was about 13 times an hour from that ‘choking noise’ [related to sleep apnea]. It was kind of scary.”

To help keep his airways open, Dr. Iatridis recommended a pillow under Jimmy's head. He also suggested considering a CPAP machine.  

Cindy’s sleep study results

Dr. Iatridis found that while Cindy does not have any major sleep issues, she is a light sleeper. She and Jimmy likely have shift work sleep disorder. The condition affects people who work irregular hours.  

Dr. Iatridis and Cindy joked that she could easily “catch up” on her sleep by taking more vacations.

How they feel about their experience

Jimmy was initially concerned the study would feel more like a clinical experience. He expected it to be like sleeping in a hospital.

“It wasn’t like going to a hospital,” he shares. “It was like a high-end hotel room.”

Jimmy said the best part was when he was about to fall asleep. A voice over the speaker suddenly asked, "Can you please move your cords?"

“You kind of forget [a sleep technician] is watching you,” laughs Cindy.

Both hosts say they were glad they underwent the study because they’d been curious about the results for so long.

To learn more about sleep studies, click here or visit Piedmont Sleep Services. 

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