Helping You Understanding Sleep

Sleep apnea is a disorder of interrupted breathing during sleep. It usually occurs in association with stout increase or loss of muscle tone with aging. These changes allow the windpipe to collapse during breathing when muscles relax during sleep.

This problem, called obstreperous sleep apnea, is usually linked with loud snoring (though not everyone who snores has this disorder). Sleep apnea also can occur if the neurons that control breathing malfunction during sleep.

During an episode of obstreperous apnea, the person’s effort to inhale air makes suction that collapses the windpipe. This blocks the air flow for 10 seconds to a minute while the sleeping person struggles to breathe. When the person’s blood oxygen level falls, the brain responds by awakening the person enough to tense up the upper airway muscles and open the windpipe.

The person may snort or gasp, then resume snoring. This cycle may be repeated many hundreds of times a night. The normal awakenings that sleep apnea patients experience leave them continually sleepy and can lead to personality changes such as cantankerousness or depression.

Sleep apnea also deprives the person of oxygen, which can lead to daylight headaches, a loss of appeal in sex, or a decline in mental functioning. It also is linked to high blood pressure, activist heartbeats, and an augmented risk of heart attacks and stroke. Patients with severe, untreated sleep apnea are two to three times more likely to have automobile accidents than the general population. In some high-risk those, sleep apnea may even lead to sudden death from respiratory arrest during sleep.

An estimated 18 million Americans have sleep apnea. But, few of them have had the problem by the book diagnosed. Patients with the predictable facial appearance of sleep apnea, such as loud snoring, obesity, and unwarranted daytime sleepiness, should be referred to a specialized sleep center that can go a test called polysomnography. This test minutes the patient’s brain waves, heartbeat, and breathing during an entire night. If sleep apnea is diagnosed, numerous treatments are available. Mild sleep apnea often can be overcome through weight loss or by preventing the person from sleeping on his or her back.

Many people try using an low-priced anti snoring device prior to conducting exhaustive testing for a sleep apnea cure. These can sometimes reduce snoring so expensive sleep apnea machines are not necessary.

Other people may need unique devices or surgery to assess the obstacle. People with sleep apnea should never take sedatives or sleeping pills, which can preclude them from awakening enough to breathe.