A complete guide to understanding sleep apnea
With the changing lifestyles, health problems have become a common concern. More and more people are developing health issues, and even children are not safe. Respiratory problems that prevent people from breathing normally have also become widespread. Many patients with respiratory troubles get out of breath after performing simple tasks like walking at a fast pace or climbing stairs. But, have you heard about a condition where the person experiences trouble breathing while resting at night? If not, read this article to know more about this condition and its symptoms. Here you go!
What is sleep apnea? What are its types?
Sleep apnea refers to a medical condition where the patient finds it troublesome to breathe normally at night. In this condition, the inhalation and exhalation process pauses abruptly and restarts after a few seconds. It happens multiple times at night and maybe experienced hundreds of times during sleep. Typically, the pauses last for 10—30 seconds, but in some cases, they might linger up to a minute or more. Therefore, the condition needs to be treated as soon as it is diagnosed, or it may cause serious health complications. Besides, there are also short-term consequences of having sleep apnea that may degrade your quality of life.
Primarily, sleep apnea is of three types:-
- Obstructive sleep apnea:
OSA occurs when the muscles located at the back of the throat collapse. While sleeping, it is common for these muscles to loosen up and relax, but when they slump, the airflow gets obstructed. It causes you to stop breathing for a short duration of time.
- Central sleep apnea:
Central sleep apnea is rarer than obstructive sleep apnea. It is not mechanical but results from miscommunication between the mind and respiratory organs. In people with this condition, the brain fails to send the proper signal to the muscles to breathe, which causes respiratory problems.
- Complex sleep apnea:
Also known as mixed sleep apnea, the condition is a combination of obstructive and central sleep apnea. Such patients have mechanical issues and faulty communication between the brain and muscles. In some people, the condition develops during treatment with a positive airway pressure (PAP) or continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device.
What are the symptoms of sleep apnea?
Snoring is a significant indicator of sleep apnea. People who snore loudly every night are more likely to develop this condition than others. However, it is not necessary for everyone who snores to have sleep apnea. So, you must not rely on only this symptom. Here are some other indicators of this rest problem:
- Waking up with a morning headache
- Difficulty in concentrating
- Waking with a dry mouth
- Restlessness
- Frequently waking up at night
- Waking up often to urinate
- Mood swings
- Unexplained daytime sleepiness
People who have sleep apnea often fail to recognize the symptoms themselves. More often than not, their partners notice the loud snoring and pause in breathing. After observing these signs, they encourage their spouses to see a sleep specialist, leading to the diagnosis.
Is sleep apnea common in people?
Rest troubles are becoming increasingly common nowadays. Sleep apnea is one of them. The number of people dealing with this issue is growing daily. The patients with obstructive sleep apnea are more when compared with those with central sleep apnea.
What are the causes of sleep apnea?
Some risk factors that increase your chances of developing sleep apnea are:
- Age: One can develop sleep apnea at any age, no matter how young or old you are. However, stats show that older people over 40 are more vulnerable.
- Gender: Experts suggest that in younger people, sleep apnea is more common in men than women. But, as individuals grow old, the gap is reduced. By 50, sleep apnea cases in males and females become equal.
- Smoking: Inhaling tobacco smoke also increases the risk of sleep apnea. It is so because inflammation in the upper airway affects how the brain controls the muscles involved in breathing during sleep.
- Anatomy: In some people, sleep apnea occurs because of structural abnormalities like a large tongue, enlarged tonsils, or low-hanging soft palate.
- Alcohol consumption: Consuming alcohol can relax the muscles around the mouth and throat. It may close off the airway.
- Sleeping on the back: Because of sleeping on the back, the tissues around the mouth may collapse and close off the airway.
- Obesity: People who are obese have a larger neck circumference. So, those with more body weight have six-fold increased chances of developing this sleep problem.
- Type 2 Diabetes: Experts suggest that more than 80% of people with type 2 diabetes have undetected OSA.
Is sleep apnea dangerous?
For those wondering whether sleep apnea is dangerous and how much harm it can afflict on our bodies, here is some information.
Experts suggest that people who have untreated sleep apnea are in a precarious situation. In such people, the mortality rate is significantly higher.
Studies suggest a link between heart disease and sleep apnea. It has been observed that untreated sleep apnea can result in sudden cardiac death.
Another health issue that may result from sleep apnea is hypertension. Having this condition negatively affects your BP.
Having sleep apnea affects your family too. Loud snoring, a symptom of the condition, may disturb other people’s sleep, resulting in irritability.
How can you treat sleep apnea?
If you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea, you need to start the treatment asap. One cure you can try is using a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine. The device consists of a mask and tube and delivers oxygen to the lungs. During the process, it opens up obstructions and helps you breathe.
Another method of treating sleep apnea is making some lifestyle changes. Losing weight, lessening alcohol consumption, quitting smoking, sleeping on your sides, and elevating the head of the bed are some solutions. Trying these practices may promote better sleep.
Sleep apnea is a rest problem that keeps you from having a good night’s sleep. The condition is dangerous and needs to be treated asap through CPAP or lifestyle changes.