The president of Armenian Sleep Disorders Association (ARSDA) Dr. Samson Khachatryan is the delegate to World Sleep Day (WSD) activities in Armenia for years. Together with his younger colleagues Dr. Khachatryan annually organizes sleep-related events in Armenia aiming to raise awareness about sleep health and its issues.
WSD in 2019 was a very special one: sleep disorders epidemiological door to door survey was performed in Armenia for the first time and “The Prevalence of Sleep Disorders in Armenia” study results were presented in the frames of Sleep Awareness Week. The week of sleep awareness events lasted from March 13 to March 17 involving healthcare professionals, medical field students, and the general population.
With the resources of the Armenian Sleep Disorders Association and Somnus Neurological Clinic, an overall aim was to boost the media environment with the information on preserving healthy sleep by maintaining sleep hygiene and being well-informed about sleep disorders and their distribution throughout Armenia. An active promotion was initiated via ARSDA and Somnus Neurological Clinic Facebook pages. With the support of the Republic of Armenia Ministry of Health (RA MoH) a Press conference was organized.
March 13
The initial beginning of Sleep Awareness Week was March 13th. A TV-show called “Live Healthy” hosted neurologist, somnologist Dr. Samson Khachatryan and neurologist, clinical neurophysiologist Dr. Lusine Vardanyan. The specialists gave an overview of sleep medicine in Armenia, showed how they work with patients and briefly presented sleep diagnostics performed in Somnus Neurological Clinic sleep laboratory. Link: https://youtu.be/1B0hA-eoPOw
March 14
Half an hour of honest talk and active discussion about sleep was aired on Sputnik Armenia radio station hosting Dr. Samson Khachatryan. The main goal was to inform listeners what steps should be performed to reach high-quality sleep. Link: https://youtu.be/_7XazbjsOHU
March 15
In 2019 World Sleep Day was celebrated by a cycle of events including press-conference, local two-days sleep awareness conference, TV and radio shows attendance, published news on media sources.
The day started with participation in some morning Armenian TV-shows. Dr. Samson Khachatryan and Dr. Anahit Darabyan were simultaneously interviewed on different TV-channels: H1 (National First Channel) and Shant TV.
Aravot Luso is one of the most popular morning TV shows in Armenia. On March 15 the host was Dr. Samson Khachatryan was talking about healthy sleep, benefits of keeping it scheduled. He also spoke about an epidemiological study highlighting the most prevalent sleep disorders in Armenia. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BcNL2m2Pig
ARSDA member, neurologist Anahit Darabyan attended Aravot Shantum another popular morning TV show in Armenia. She was talking about sleep importance and what should people do in order to keep it healthy. The show hosts expressed the most frequently asked questions about sleep scheduling and sleep disorders. Link: https://youtu.be/GhbJ9PBcmGE
Dr. Khachatryan attended a live “I am healthy” Radio Show dedicated to medical topics on the National Radio Channel. The large interview with Dr. Khachatryan covered all the major sleep medicine topics. Link: https://soundcloud.com/armradio/15032019a-1?in=armradio/sets/jawliewkxjsd
Press conference
Supported by Ministry of Health Armenian Sleep Disorders Association president Dr Samson Khachatryan and Dr Lusine Vardanyan were invited to an interview at the Armenpress. They presented information about what a World Sleep Day is and what should everyone know about sleep in general. They also talked about sleep disorders and presented detailed information about Prevalence of Sleep Disorders in Armenia study which is in fact performed in Armenia for the first time. Journalists were quite curious about how long Armenians sleep, the distribution of sleep disorders in Armenia and which one is the most prevalent. Link: https://youtu.be/1t_PFUgZL7M
Online news media was involved in the process of spreading information about sleep maintenance importance and sleep disorders prevalence in Armenia. On World Sleep Day, March 15 the following news sources posted interviews and reviews on major sleep topics.
- Besides press conference RA MoH supported WSD 2019 by a post highlighting the most important points of sleep hygiene. Link: http://www.moh.am/#1/1906
- Doctors.am is an official medical information resource in Armenia. In an interview named “How do Armenians sleep” Dr. Samson Khachatryan was asked about sleep disorders distribution in Armenia. Link: https://www.doctors.am/world-sleep-day
- Armenpress gave its own feedback on sleep disorders prevalence study and posted sleep hygiene rules. Link: https://armenpress.am/arm/news/967661.html
In the frames of World Sleep Day celebration Armenian Sleep Disorders Association (ARSDA) organized local events for medical field representatives separated in two days March 15 and 16. The aim was to raise awareness in students and residents and healthcare professionals thus creating more interest in sleep and informing specialists about sleep disorders and their management. The events were organized by ARSDA and supported by some other organizations.
March 15
ARSDA members supported by Young Researchers Union (YRU) presented several lectures about sleep importance, sleep hygiene and sleep disorders. Previously ARSDA and YRU signed an agreement of mutual support in research and other programs. The event was held at Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU) and the main audience consisted of medical students and healthcare professionals. 
ARSDA president Dr. Samson Khachatryan opening remarks were followed by an informative sleep physiology and sleep disorders lecture presented by Neurology department resident Dr. Garik Yeganyan. Then Dr. Khachatryan presented a detailed overview of sleep disorders prevalence in Armenia according to the performed study. Special attention was paid to obstructive sleep apnea syndrome as the most interdisciplinary disorder. The lecture of Dr. Marina Petrosyan was about sleep apnea from the view of a pulmonologist, whereas Dr. Lusine Vardanyan introduced the neurological part of it. Movement disorders specialist, neurologist Dr. Zaruhi Tavadyan familiarized the audience to Parkinson’s disease, its sleep-related issues, and further management.
The audience was very interested in the presented topics and asked serious questions. Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/2001062150007036/
March 16
The continuation of the March 15th seminar was presented by residents as case reports from sleep medicine assisted by Heratsi iLAB on March 16th. After a brief overview of sleep disorders prevalence in Armenia by Dr. Samson Khachatryan Neurology department residents and students presented cases on epilepsy in sleep, restless legs syndrome, jactatio capitis nocturna, parasomnias such as sleep paralysis, REM sleep behavior disorder, NREM parasomnias including a case of sleep apnea associated NREM parasomnia. Each disorder was briefly explained for the audience and diagnostic criteria from the International Classification of Sleep Disorders (ICSD-3) 3rd edition AASM 2014 were given.
All the case presentations were taken from Somnus Neurological Clinic archive permitted by the head of the clinic. Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/802506530115609
March 17
March 17 was considered to be the day of general population awareness. For the first time, it was decided to make a meeting out of the capital of Armenia. Two hours of the interactive discussion happened in Gyumri, which is the second biggest city in Armenia. Gyumri LOFT hosted ARSDA members Sunday afternoon. Participants asked their questions both during and after short sleep-related lectures.
Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/332210220746676/
These activities despite a low resource used caused a high positive impact according to overall monitoring of sleep-related activities, requests, and questionings that followed. Another positive side is that nearly all media appearances are permanently available free on the web for further watching and sharing. Correct targeted media selection was the key to the successful implementation of World Sleep Day’s tasks.
Dr. Samson Khachatryan is the President of Armenian Sleep Disorders Association and Director of Somnus Neurological Clinic in Yerevan, Armenia.
