What is Sleep Apnea?

Are you feeling sleepy all the time? Do you snore? Is your doctor having a difficult time treating your high blood pressure?  If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you might have Sleep Apnea (also called Obstructive Sleep Apnea or OSA).

Sleep Apnea is a condition involving pauses or decreases in breathing during sleep.  It is usually due to airway collapse.  This collapse occurs in the nose and/or the throat – anywhere from where air enters the nostrils to the back of the tongue.  Imagine a straw collapsing when trying to suck on a thick milkshake. Frequently, this airway collapsibility problem is inherited and starts in childhood.  In the daytime, it is not a problem because there is good muscle-tone in the airway and the brain monitors breathing.  But at night, the throat muscles become relaxed and the brain is not as attentive to the airway.  So on inhalation, the airway walls can either completely collapse or significantly narrow.  This is a problem because 1) the body must struggle to breathe and 2) the brain has to “wake up” to reopen the airway.

These frequent awakenings lead to fragmentation of nighttime sleep.  You may not remember them because they are so short.  In fact, patients with sleep apnea can wake-up more than 30 times an hour and think that they slept uninterrupted through the night.  Since sleep must be continuous and consolidated in order to be restorative, a number of cognitive problems can occur with sleep fragmentation: daytime sleepiness, memory problems, concentration difficulties, emotional instability, irritability, slowed reaction time, and most importantly, an increased risk of motor vehicle accidents.

There are also cardiovascular consequences of this constant “struggling to breathe.”  This puts a strain on the heart and blood vessels, leading to increased risk of high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.

Finally, there are social implications to Sleep Apnea.  The snoring associated with sleep apnea can disrupt the sleep of others.  In fact, one study showed that when a person treats his/her sleep apnea, the sleep partner gets the equivalent of one hour more sleep per night.

Sleep apnea is a progressive disease and often gets worse with age.  Weight gain, alcohol, and other sedating/relaxing substances exacerbate it.

Who Gets Sleep Apnea?

A common misconception is that only overweight men that snore loudly have sleep apnea, but the facts are:

1) Sleep apnea can occur without snoring
2) Thin people can have sleep apnea
3) Women can have sleep apnea
4) Children can have sleep apnea

In other words, anyone can have it. Even skinny women.  Even children.

I Think I Might Have Sleep Apnea, How Do I Find Out If I Have It?

Make an appointment with your primary care physician, or if your insurance allows it, go straight to a sleep specialist. If your physician thinks you might have sleep apnea, then he/she can refer you for a sleep study or comprehensive sleep evaluation.

How Is Sleep Apnea Treated?

There are four main categories of treatment for sleep apnea: Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP), Surgery, Oral Appliances, and Behavioral Modification. 

The most effective way to treat sleep apnea is with CPAP.  CPAP is a mask worn over the nose attached by a hose to an air compressor.  The air compressor gently and quietly blows room-air into the nose, which “stents” the airway open, preventing airway collapse.  This is the most effective way to treat sleep apnea, and all patients diagnosed with sleep apnea should at least try it before considering other options.

Surgery can be an effective way to treat sleep apnea. A number of different procedures can be performed.  These range from nasal septum repair to jaw reconstruction.  Talk to your doctor about whether surgery is the right option for you.

An oral appliance is a device made by a dentist or an orthodontist designed to pull your lower jaw forward.  By pulling your lower jaw forward, the tongue is pulled away from the back of the throat.  If your airway obstruction is occurring behind the tongue, then this can be an effective way to treat your sleep apnea.  The treatment of sleep apnea with oral appliance should be a coordinated effort between the sleep physician, the dentist/orthodontist, and the patient.

Behavioral modifications can help in the treatment of sleep apnea, but are usually the least effective.  These include such techniques as weight loss, sleeping on your side, and avoiding alcohol before bedtime.

None of these treatment options is ideal, but they all can be useful in treating sleep apnea and resulting in more restful sleep.  With risks like heart attack and stroke, you should do everything you can to get your sleep apnea under control.  If you think you have sleep apnea, contact your doctor or go to a sleep center.  It could be the best decision you ever made.

How To Select The Best Sleep Apnea Treatment

With so many choices, it may seem very difficult to select a sleep apnea treatment that actually works. Any individual who has been diagnosed with sleep apnea is in need of a prompt remedy. If this condition is ignored, it may lead to heart disease, a stroke or other serious medical problem.

In order to select the best sleep apnea treatment, you must consider whether or not the procedure is safe. What type of product warning does it have? If you are looking for an anti-snoring device, you should look for one that has been medically tested and doctor recommended. One such product is, for instance, called the Sleep Genie. While supporting the jaw, it helps the mouth to remain closed using a comfortable nylon lycra blend.
  
It is important to understand that the Sleep Genie is not intended to be a cure for sleep apnea, but rather a product that can work to improve sleep quality. In addition, apnea sufferers who use the Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machine may benefit from the added use of the Sleep Genie, which helps to keep the mouth closed. Users of the CPAP machine need to sleep with their mouth closed in order to keep the air, provided by the machine, from escaping during sleep.


Other natural sleep apnea treatment methods include the removal of household allergens with the help of air filtration devices, sleeping on your side instead of your back, giving up cigarettes and/or alcohol and paying close attention to your diet. Obesity is one of the leading causes of snoring, which is a direct sign of sleep apnea. Therefore, if you are overweight or have been diagnosed as being obese, it may be time to consider a medically supervised diet and exercise program. In addition to being a good sleep apnea treatment, losing weight will help to improve your overall health.

It is important to realize the difference between sleep apnea and just plain snoring. Snoring is random and does not cause additional problems, other than sleep disruption, for the sufferer. Sleep apnea, however, is diagnosed when the sufferer snores heavily and stops breathing completely on more than one occasion during the night. Because the latter is of major concern to physicians, it should be treated with an effective sleep apnea treatment as quickly as possible. Sufferers who are looking for a good sleep apnea treatment should select one that works quickly in order to get instant results and relief.

This article is intended for informational purposes only. It should not be used as, or in place of, professional medical advice. Before beginning any treatment for snoring, please consult a doctor for a proper diagnosis and remedy.

Diagnosing Sleep Apnea

If you have noticed a pattern of heavy snoring, shortness of breath or a choking sensation during the night, then you may have sleep apnea. Most people thing that snoring is just snoring, but it can actually be a warning sign of something much more serious. Sleep apnea is a serious medical condition that could lead to heart problems, an increased likelihood of having a stroke or other ailment. If not treated properly, the sufferer could clearly face serious health problems.

In order to properly diagnose sleep apnea, a physician will ask a series of questions and possibly order a sleep study. This is what happens when a potential sleep apnea victim visit’s a sleep center for one night. During that night, they are hooked up to various monitoring devices, which keeps a close watch on their sleeping patterns, breathing and snoring. The physician carefully reviews the results and either makes a positive diagnosis for sleep apnea or informs the patient that he/she tested negative for the disorder.

It is very important that sleep apnea be diagnosed as early as possible. A spouse may be your best source of information for early warning signs, such as heavy snoring, pauses in breathing, etc. The next step will be patient awareness, which may entail the patient realizing that he/she is exhausted during the day, unable to concentrate on normal activities and may have personality changes. These are due to lack of sleep, which is what happens when a sleep apnea sufferer suddenly awakens with difficulty breathing. A sleep apnea sufferer will completely stop breathing on more than one occasion throughout the night, which may cause them to wake up frequently. Even if the do not recall what happened, they are not receiving a quality night’s sleep.

Additional warning signs, but not necessarily symptoms, include being overweight or obese, smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, allergies, constantly sleeping on the back, etc. These may be a few of the factors that lead up to sleep apnea and, as a result, often have a hand in it’s prevention. By losing weight, giving up cigarettes and alcohol, ridding the home of allergens and sleeping on the side, sleep apnea may soon be a thing of the past.

This article is intended for informational purposes only. It should not be used as, or in place of, professional medical advice. Before beginning any treatment for snoring, please consult a doctor for a proper diagnosis and remedy.

Sleep Apnea Symptom - Snoring - Snorting - Chocking

The first sleep apnea symptom you may become aware of is snoring. Snoring is not always indicative of sleep apnea but if the snoring is loud or is more of a snort or choking sound, the culprit may be sleep apnea. Mainly caused by a blockage of the airway, sleep apnea can be successfully treated with a number of options available.

Your body needs to sleep to rejuvenate itself to keep functioning day to day. If you have sleep apnea, your body cannot stay in REM sleep because of the decrease in oxygen signal your brain to wake you up. You eventually have what is referred to as a chronic sleep deficiency and this leads to another sleep apnea symptom of excessive day time sleepiness.

OSA, or obstructive sleep apnea, affects approximately 4% of men and 2% of women in the US although the figures may be much worse than previously though due to the increasing number of Americans becoming obese. Obesity is not a symptom, it is a cause. Of the 18 million people estimated to have sleep apnea it is further estimated that only 10% of them are receiving treatment for their problem.

Men over the age of 40 are more likely to have sleep apnea than women of the same age. After the age of 50 the risk evens out between men and women. Obesity makes sleep apnea worse. About 70% of obese people in the US have obstructive sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is not discriminatory and affects men and women of all walks of life including people with heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke, NFL Football players, Whites, African-Americans, Asian and people from India.

So what happens when one is diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea? Well, first, the airway becomes obstructed by the tongue and soft palate. Next, trying to take a breath is not successful even though the muscle motion is made. Then, the oxygen level drops signaling the brain to wake you up so you will continue breathing. This is when you will gasp for air, snort, or snore very loudly.

Other types of obstruction that can affect breathing when sleeping are a deviated septum that has narrowed the air passages, or the filters in the nose called turbinates that obstruct breathing if they become swollen and the side walls of the throat collapse to close the airway. Sometimes the airway is obstructed while attempting to breathe when the tissues of the airway get sucked together by the negative pressure.

If you have a deviated septum you can try using the strips on your nose made for holding the nasal passages open. This may be enough to alleviate your symptoms and let you get the sleep you so desperately need and deserve each night. Before you try anything though you need to discuss all of your options with your doctor to see which is the best for you.

In order for you to take a breath several things have to happen all at once. The muscles of the chest expand and lower the diaphragm and create a negative pressure allowing you to take in a breath. The negative pressure created is what sucks the air into the lungs. Sometimes the airway is just narrower than normal and plain and simple anatomy is the obstructive sleep apnea symptom responsible for your sleep disorder.

Sleep Disorder - The Night Phantom

Sleep apnea is a condition when you stop breathing for a short interval repeatedly during sleep. Apnea means "Without Breath" in Greek; the word aptly describes the condition of patients suffering from sleep apnea. You may have breathing difficulty while sleeping, which may break your sleep also. Sleep apnea may cause high blood pressure, chances of stroke, impotence etc. This may seem a simple snoring disease, but it can be extremely harmful and should never be neglected.

Symptoms of sleep apnea:
These are some of the common symptoms of sleep apnea, though they may vary from person to person:

• Tendency to sleep more during the day. 
• Interrupted snoring with periods of improper breathing. 
• A small or recessed jaw.
• Obesity. 
• A very tired feeling in the morning.
• Gasping or snoring respirations in the night.
• Unexplained right side heart or respiratory failure. 
• Memory or concentration problems.
• Excessive snoring at night.

Types of apnea:

There are basically three types of apnea:

Obstructive sleep apnea: This is the most common, with 9 out of 10 cases of apnea coming under this category. It is often incorrectly called Pickwick Syndrome. Here, repetitive episodes of upper airway obstruction occur during sleep, which is generally associated with a reduction in blood oxygen saturation. The obstruction may be excess tissue in the airway, large tonsils, or a large tongue. Another site of obstruction can be the nasal passages.

Central sleep apnea: This is not very common. This is related to the function of the central nervous system. The muscles that you use to breathe don't get a clear signal from the brain, thus causing this problem. Either the brain doesn't send the signal, or the signal gets interrupted.

Mixed apnea: This is a combination of central and obstructive apnea. The most affected people are infants or young children, who have abnormal control of breathing. Mixed apnea may occur when a child is awake or asleep.

Snoring is another symptom of sleep apnea. It is the loud, rough rattling noise that you make while sleeping, caused when the soft palate and uvula vibrates. Snoring is believed to occur in anywhere from 30% of women to over 40% of men. When snoring is interrupted by frequent episodes of totally obstructed breathing, it is known as Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

Treatments:

Sleep apnea can be cured by the following methods:

• Losing weight.
• Cutting down on alcohol.
• Using Nasal Dilator strips.
• Using dental appliances to prevent tongue from falling back.
• Surgery - Tracheostomy, Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty, Mandibular Myotomy, Laser Assisted Uvuloplasty, Laup Radio Frequency (RF) Procedure or Somnoplasty.
• Palatoplasty - stiffening of the palate using surgery or injection.
• Using special pillows or devices to keep the airway open during sleep.
• Using a CPAP mask.
• Adjust your sleeping position, which might alleviate snoring.