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Sleep Apnea (also called Sleep Apnoea) is a common sleep disorder that is characterized by brief interruptions of breathing during sleep, which force the sufferer to wake up to resume normal breathing, and disrupt and disturb their normal sleep cycle. These episodes, called apneas, usually last from a few seconds up to as long as sixty seconds in severe cases, and may occur repeatedly throughout the night. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), the most common form of the sleep disorder, affects an estimated twelve million American citizens every year. Of these, over a half are prone to loud snoring and are also overweight or obese. For reasons unknown, OSA is more common in males than females and in people who have large as opposed to medium or small neck measurements.
Where obstructive sleep apnea is concerned, a person's airways are blocked during the night therefore their breathing ceases. Normal breathing patterns often begin again after anywhere from a few seconds to ten seconds but there are cases where it takes fifty to sixty seconds for normal patterns to resume. The longer period of breathe cessation there is, the more serious the case. Obstructive sleep apnea is most likely to occur for those individuals who are prone to snoring, those who drink liquor, those who need to lose weight and those who have one form or another of an anatomical abnormality afflicting their soft palate or jaw. There are times however when a person who doesn't fit any of the above criteria still develops obstructive sleep apnea.
When muscles in the airways relax excessively while a person sleeps at night that is what is the cause of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). In many cases of OSA there is a "severe narrowing or occlusion of the pharynx" that seriously obstructs or completely stops breathing all together. This causes an excessive amount of carbon dioxide to develop and once the brain becomes aware of it the "airway muscles are activated which opens the airway, allowing breathing to resume but interrupting deep sleep."
Obstructive sleep apnea develops as a result of constant episodes of airway obstruction during sleep. Approximately two percent of women and four percent of men who suffer from sleep apnea meet what is deemed as the "diagnostic criteria" for the sleep disorder, which averages an estimated ten bouts of apnea or what is referred to as "apneic events" in the course of an hour. An apneic event can be "either an apnea, characterized by complete cessation of airflow for at least ten seconds, or a hypopnea in which airflow decreases by fifty percent for ten seconds or decreases by thirty percent if there is an associated decrease in the oxygen saturation or an arousal from sleep." Sleep apnea is give a grade or level by sleep researchers which is calculated by the number of apneic events that take place every hour. This is known as the "apnea-hypopnea index" (or AHI). The normal level of an AHI is less than five whereas one that lies somewhere between five to fifteen is mild and a moderate AHI would be fifteen to thirty. The highest level or most severe is thirty or more apneic events per hour.
Extreme tiredness during the daytime is one of the most common symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea. A person suffering from this sleep problem can experience any number of other symptoms. These symptoms include drifting off to sleep during the busy workday, headaches in the A.M., irritability, anxiety, depression, difficulty concentrating on tasks, weight gain, behavioral changes and/or changes in mood, a tendency to forget easily and an increase in a person's heart rate. Other symptoms can include a desire to urinate often and nocturnal enuresis ("The uncontrolled or involuntary discharge of urine").
Written by: Scott Parat
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If left untreated, Sleep Apnea can be life threatening. Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS) can cause people to fall asleep at inappropriate times, such as while driving, endangering their lives and the lives of their passengers and those around them.
Sleep apnea also appears to put individuals at risk for stroke and Transient Ischemic Attacks (TIAs), also known as "mini-strokes", and is associated with coronary heart disease, heart failure, irregular heartbeat, heart attack, gout and high blood pressure.
So, if you or a loved one are suffering from sleep apnea, be sure to see your doctor so that the sleep apnea symptoms can be treated, removed, or reduced before they become life threatening.
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