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Understanding Sleep Apnea
Apnea, in terms of the Greek word, is defined as "without breath."
Sleep apnea is a health condition far more serious than what most would think. Sleep apnea is a breathing disorder characterized by episodes of disturbed or interrupted breathing during sleep associated with recurrent arousals and awakenings. It is a health condition that happens when one's breathing during sleep stops for a while, the cessation (interruption) in breathing during sleep lasts for 10-30 seconds in patients with mild-to-moderate sleep apnea. However, in severe cases this cessation may last for even three minutes. Sleep apnea could happen 5 to 45 times per hour.
It is estimated that in United States alone, over 12 million people suffer from sleep apnea. There are two types of sleep apnea, obstructive sleep apnea characterized by recurrent hypoxemia and arousal and Central sleep apnea caused due to problem with signals from the brain that control breathing.
The cardinal symptoms of sleep apnea are loud snoring, excessive daytime sleepiness and restless sleep. Other symptoms of sleep apnea include choking or gasping during sleep, unrefreshing sleep, morning headaches, daytime fatigue, personality changes, memory impairment, impaired concentration, poor judgment, mood disturbances, recent weight gain, (excessive urination), and impotence in men.
Sleep apnea is usually associated with choking sensations and often leads to headaches and sleepiness during the day. Its moderateness or severity is measured with respect to the frequency of episodes per hour, whether you have no breathing (apnea) or slower breathing (hyponea).
Sleep apnea occurs mostly but not limited to men and not specific to any age group. Loud snoring is usually associated with apnea. People with high blood pressure and obese are most likely to developed sleep apnea. Problems in the nose, throat, and air passageway can also cause sleep apnea. Early detection of sleep apnea is very important since it is usually implies or can lead to underlying health conditions such as heart problems.
In some cases, apnea happens when the muscles in the throat & tongue relax when one is sleeping, which eventually lead to blockage of the air passageway to some varying degree. Then breathing becomes noisier, slow, or even stops for a while. Obese people have are prone to having sleep apnea since they have more tissue in the airway that makes it narrow for normal breathing.
Sleep apnea makes an active person feel sleepy in the morning and affects their concentration in work. Severe sleep apnea could lead to depression, memory loses, irritability, and other negative socio-psychological conditions. Sleep apnea could increase the risk of having a heart attack, high blood pressure and even stroke. One should suspect having a sleep apnea disorder when the following conditions occur:
1. Heavy snoring during sleep while struggling to breath. This is usually monitored by the spouse or room mate.
2. Co-workers noticing one's lack of concentration at work and falling to sleep frequently.
3. Headaches upon waking up from sleep.
4. Frequent urination at night.
5. Heartburn during the night.
6. Frequent changing in sleep position and restlessness.
7. Night time choking episodes.
Detecting sleep apnea is a collaborative effort among your family physician, neurologist, and/or pulmonologist. Among the tests for diagnosing person with such disorder are Polysommography and The Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT). Polysomnography monitors different functions of the body during sleep such as brain activity, movement of the eye, movement of the muscles, heart beating, and blood oxygen. The test will also determine whether the condition is moderate or severe.
The Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT) measures how fast the individual fall into sleep. Normal people fall into sleep in 10 to 20 minutes on the average while people with sleep apnea disorder fall into sleep in 5 minutes or less. Additionally MSLT is use to measure the daytime sleepiness of the person. Sleep Apnea: A Silent Killerby Kathryn WhittakerGetting a good night sleep is essential for your well-being. However, many people don't realize that they are often sleep-deprived because of breathing problems. Over 90 percent of people who snore are at risk for sleep disordered breathing, or sleep apnea.
According to the National Sleep Foundation research, about 18 million of adults are not getting enough sleep because of sleep apnea. Suffering with sleep deprivation will make you feel tired and groggy, which leads to poor productivity at work and even result in bad driving habits. Your bedmate can eventually get tired of your constant moving and breathing irregularities which can cause stress and strain on your relationship and lead to separate bedrooms.
Pauses in breathing while asleep are called sleep apnea or sleep disordered breathing. Most often adults are diagnosed with obstructive apnea, or sleep disordered breathing which is caused by the blockage of the breathing passage by tonsils, adenoids or excess tissue in the airway.
Sleep apnea affects you in ways that you couldn't dream of. The vicious circle of sleep apnea starts when a throat is blocked, blood oxygen level falls due to the lack of breath, and a person wakes up gasping for air.
People with sleep apnea often feel tired and sleepy during the day because their sleep quality is affected, as they move out of deep sleep and into light sleep several times during the night. These periods of not breathing, as short as they are, will inevitably wake you up from deep sleep. As a result, you are not getting enough rest from your sleep. Plus, sleep apnea causes a reduction of oxygen in the bloodstream which results in overall deprivation of cellular functions in your body.
If you snore, sleep restlessly, gasp and pause when breathing at sleep, especially during deep sleep, most likely you have sleep apnea. You can detect these symptoms yourself, or most likely you have been told about them by your partner. Sleep apnea is most common in people who are overweight. Men are also more at risk than women. Almost all people who have sleep apnea snore - at least once during the night. However, not all people who snore have sleep apnea. It's important to check for other sleep apnea symptoms to see if you have this medical condition.
The most common symptoms of sleep apnea are snoring and sleepiness during the day. Other symptoms include:
• Restless tossing and turning during sleep.
• Nighttime choking
• Nighttime sweating
• Mild to severe chest pain
• Waking tired after sleep
• Having problems with memory and concentration
• Feeling irritable and nervous
• Experiencing personality changes
• Morning headaches
• Heartburn
• Swelling of the legs
Undetected sleep apnea may increase your risk for hypertension, heart attack or stroke, as well as diabetes and work-related and driving accidents. Sleep apnea can also cause brain damage and result in shorter life span.
If sleep apnea is successfully treated and you start sleeping better, you will experience a huge boost of energy. Many people even report having less asthma, they are calmer, with more positive outlook; they have improved stamina and better functioning immune system. So if you suspect you or your partner is suffering with this condition you should speak to your doctor to discuss possible treatment plans.
About the author: Kathryn writes articles on a number of different topics. For more information on Sleep Apnea please visit http://www.sleeping-disorders guide.com/sleep disorders/
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| Obstructive Sleep Apnea |  |
Obstructive sleep apnea is the more common type of sleep apnea. It is a condition characterized by recurrent hypoxemia and arousal, due to partial or complete obstruction of the upper airways during sleep with consequent daytime somnolence.
Symptoms are loud snoring, hyper somnolence (excessive daytime sleepiness), and restless sleep. Other symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea include choking or gasping during sleep, unrefreshing sleep, morning headaches, daytime fatigue, personality changes, memory impairment, impaired concentration, poor judgment, mood disturbances, recent weight gain, polyurea, and impotence.
The goal of treatment for sleep apnea patients is to keep the airway open and prevent pauses in breathing during sleep. The most common non-invasive treatment for severe sleep apnea is a CPAP machine. CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) works by gently blowing pressurized air through the nasal passage of the patient at a pressure high enough to prevent the throat from collapsing during sleep. |
Central Sleep Apnea
Central sleep apnea is a rare condition characterized by a cessation or decrease in breathing during sleep due to problem with signals from the brain that control breathing.
The symptoms of central sleep apnea are loud snoring, hypersomnolence (excessive daytime sleepiness), and restless sleep. The problem of excessive daytime sleepiness (especially while driving, working or talking) develops slowly over years and is noticeable by friends and colleagues. Hypersomnolence and neurocognitive disturbances stand as a cause for automobile or work-related accidents in sleep apnea patients.
Other symptoms of central sleep apnea include choking or gasping during sleep, unrefreshing sleep, morning headaches, daytime fatigue, personality changes, memory impairment, impaired concentration, poor judgment, mood disturbances, recent weight gain, polyurea (excessive urination), and impotence.
The hypoxic and hypercapnic drives can be impaired by brain stem lesions or by exposure to recurrent hypoxia and hypercapnia and result in central sleep apnea. The stimulus to breathe instead from the cortex and reticular activating system is lost during sleep and the patient stops breathing, the so-called "Ondine's curse". Central sleep apnea can also be caused by another rare condition of bilateral diaphragm paralysis which usually occurs as part of a general neuromuscular condition but in some cases can lead to respiratory failure before general weakness is apparent.
The most common and effective treatment option for patients of central sleep apnea is assisted overnight ventilation with external devices such as a rocking bed, or cuirasse. A rocking bed prevents cessation of breathing during sleep by pushing the diaphragm up and down by gravity. Another ventilator device of importance is cuirasse. Cuirasse consists of a small shell that fits around the patient and is connected to an intermittent vacuum pump that draws out the chest wall.
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7 Tips To Help You Sleepby Donald Saunders
Do you keep your partner awake at night with your snoring? Are you often tired during the day? Do you sometimes find yourself suffering from morning headaches, being a bit forgetful, unable to concentrate and irritable? If so, you may be suffering from sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea is a very common and often undiagnosed sleep disorder that, according to some estimates, affects five percent of the adult population. Characterized in particular by loud snoring and daytime tiredness, sleep apnea occurs because you stop breathing during sleep. This can occur literally hundreds of times each night and your breathing can be interrupted by up to a minute or more on each occasion.
Your breathing is interrupted by a physical blockage to your airway (for example, loose skin in the back of your throat, or perhaps your tongue, blocking your airway), in which case you are said to suffer from obstructive sleep apnea.
Both men and women suffer from sleep apnea, although the condition is more commonly seen in men and, in particular, men who are over 40 and overweight. The main consequence of sleep apnea is that, because your sleep is very light, fragmented and of poor quality, you also suffer from insomnia, or excessive daytime tiredness. Your partner would probably disagree and say that the main problem is your snoring, but that’s a different story!
There are a range of treatments available for sleep apnea (including surgery in particularly severe cases), but in the vast majority of cases your quality of life can be improved considerably with a few simple lifestyle changes and natural remedies. Indeed, in mild cases, this is often all that is needed.
Here are 7 simple tips to offset the effects of sleep apnea related insomnia and restore some of that lost daytime ‘get up and go’.
Tip 1. Look at your weight. If you’re overweight then this is undoubtedly contributing to your problem. Losing just a few pounds can make a significant difference.
Tip 2. Avoid alcohol. Alcohol relaxes your throat muscles and this makes it much easier for these muscles to ‘collapse’ during sleep and block your airway. There’s no need to cut out alcohol altogether, but you should restrict your intake and certainly cut out alcohol in the three or four hours before going to bed.
Tip 3. Avoid sleeping pills. Sleeping pills can also relax your throat muscles and cause similar problems to those seen for alcohol. Sleeping pills, however, can also cause a variety of other problems as well and there use is not recommended in cases of sleep apnea.
Tip 4. Avoid tobacco. Smoking inflames your nasal tissues causing them to swell and restrict your nasal airway. Ideally, you should give up smoking altogether but, if this is too high a fence to jump, then try to cut down and, in particular, reduce your smoking during the evening.
Tip 5. Sleep on your side. If you’re typical of the majority of sleep apnea sufferers you sleep on your back, making it far easier for the tissues in your throat, and for your tongue, to block your airway. Even if you go to sleep on your side, you probably roll onto your back shortly after falling asleep. Try propping yourself up with pillows or cushions so that you sleep on your side. If this doesn’t work then sew something like a tennis ball into the back of your pajamas. You’ll find that rolling onto the tennis ball will be quite uncomfortable and it will soon condition you to sleep on your side. If you can’t sew, find a shirt or tee-shirt with a breast pocket. Pop the tennis ball into the pocket and then wear the shirt back-to front.
Tip 6. Improve your nasal breathing. If you suffer from a ‘stuffed up’ nose, then try using a nasal spray to help open up your nasal airway. Nasal sprays should not however be used regularly or for prolonged periods, as they can cause damage to the tissues of the nose. As an alternative, pop along to the drug store or chemist and buy yourself one of many very cheap devices that are available today to help keep your nose open while you sleep. Your pharmacist or chemist will be happy to show you what’s on offer and to help you to make the right choice.
Tip 7. Avoid sleep deprivation. Make sure that you are getting enough sleep and that you’re following a regular bedtime routine. Also make sure that your bedroom conditions are set for sleep (the right temperature, quiet, dark etc.) and that you’ve dealt with the worries of the day and are relaxed and ready for sleep each night. One of the major consequences of both obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea is insomnia, and curing the insomnia associated with sleep apnea is a major step in the management of the condition.
These are just a few simple tips but you’ll be amazed at just what a difference they can make.
About the author: Donald Saunders is the author of a number of health related publications including: "How To Get A Good Night's Sleep - Simple Solutions To Help You Rest" Pick up your free copy today http://help-me-to-sleep.com/sleep-apnea/index.html and discover the key to curing sleep-apnea.
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