The number one sleep disorder is sleep apnea. Why is this?
- Sleep apnea affects approximately one in ten middle-aged males. It is slightly less common in women.
- Untreated sleep apnea can lead to death.
- Because there are not enough sleep specialists to diagnose and treat this condition, patients with sleep apnea are often misdiagnosed and poorly treated.
Sleep apnea can cause people to lose their vitality, health, or even life. Many readers will be familiar with the symptoms of loss of vitality. Sleep apnea is a condition that causes people to fall asleep while driving or anywhere else. Heavy snoring can trdisrupt their sleep, and sometimes that of their families. They work hard despite fatigue, snore at their desks, fall asleep on the couch, and then stumble back to work exhausted.
They are unable to enjoy the company of family or friends.
Sleep apnea can have serious health consequences. People with untreated sleep apnea are at risk of driving accidents, high blood pressure, and strokes.
There are many options for treatment (even sleep apnea surgery)and they are highly effective. People who were once sick can quickly recover their energy, resume their favorite activities and become more active. The good news is that life can be restored.
The main problem is an accurate diagnosis. Undiagnosed sleep apnea sufferers account for between 80 and 90% of cases. Many patients who suffered from sleep apnea for more than ten years were able to testify before their condition was properly diagnosed and treated by the National Commission on Sleep Disorders Research.
Sleep apnea has been recognized as a major medical condition that can have a significant impact on your cardiovascular, mental, and driving safety. It can also affect your daily functions at home or work. Over 4,000 American sleep centers are available. Sleep medicine was recently recognized as a sub-specialty by the American College of Physicians.
Millions of people continue to suffer from sleep disorders, receive sub-standard care, and feel hopeless that their condition hasn’t improved.
Are You Suffering from Sleep Apnea
These are the top 10 signs of sleep apnea
- Loud, irregular, or loud snoring, snorts, and gasps during sleep
- Sleeping with long pauses in breathing
- Excessive daytime sleepiness
- Fatigue
- Obesity
- Memory, alertness, and memory changes
- Changes in mood, personality, or behavior
- Impotence
- Morning headaches
- Bed-wetting
Untreated sleep apnea could lead to 12 serious medical issues.
- Heart attack risk is 20 times higher
- Stroke risk is three times higher
- The risk of workplace accidents and automobile crashes is 15 times greater
- Unregular heartbeat
- Increased risk for heart failure
- High blood pressure
- Excessive sleeping
- Impotence
- Uncontrollable weight gain
- Psychological symptoms such as irritability or depression are common.
- Memory, alertness, or coordination decline
- Death
What is Sleep Apnea?
Sleep apnea. The Greek prefix a [‘no’] and the Greek term pnoia[“breath”) are the two main components of the word apnea. It is pronounced APNEE-uh. It is a condition that causes breathing problems in people, often while they are asleep. Most people treat it as a joke by ignoring the loud, heavy snoring. Sleep apnea can be serious. Sleep apnea can be fatal. It can lead to heart problems, strokes, accidents in the car, and even death.
Sleep apnea is a condition that causes people to stop breathing throughout the night. The breathing may stop for as long as a minute, or it may stop for up to 10-20 times per hour. These sleep/breathing disturbances can cause sleep or breathing problems that result in oxygen deprivation.
You might think, “So what?” “I feel tired and sleepy throughout the day. This should not be considered a medical issue.
Actually, there are two issues. The first problem is that sleep apnea can pose a serious health risk. Along with obesity, diabetes, and smoking, it is one of four leading causes of cardiovascular disease.
Another problem with sleep apnea is the alarming amount of people who have it but don’t know they have it. This number ranges from 20 to 25 million Americans. A recent study of 60- to 70-year-olds found that 24% and 9% of them had sleep apnea signs (see the chart at the top).
Sleep apnea is three times more common after menopause than it was before menopause.
Unsettling results from a study on truckers revealed that almost 87 percent of them had signs of sleep apnea. Truckers suffering from sleep apnea are at risk for major accidents because they have a 15-fold higher chance of falling asleep behind the wheel if it is not treated. In fact, truckers who are killed in an accident result in the deaths of an average of 4.3 others.
These are the Top 10 Signs of Sleep Apnea
It is possible that you are the only one to discover that you have sleep apnea. You are usually asleep when it occurs, and it disappears when you get up. It is often a friend or loved one who notices that someone’s sleeping patterns and breathing aren’t normal.
Most often, spouses, children, and close friends will be the first to recognize the 10 most common signs of sleep apnea or sleep-disordered breath.
Loud, irregular Snoring, Snorting, Gasps, or Other Unusual Breathing Sounds during Sleep
Any person who snores loudly or frequently is likely to have sleep apnea. When the person stops breathing, the snoring ceases. Sometimes, it starts again with a snort or a gasp.
When the person takes their next breath.
Regular snoring is characterized by breathing that stops and irregular snoring. This is in contrast to the relaxed, quiet sawing of ZZZs most people do sometimes, especially if they’re asleep on their backs.
Apnea-type noises can be loud, slow, and even explosive. The person may seem to be struggling to breathe, which is exactly what it is.
A common characteristic of severe apnea-type sleep apnea is the ability to occur in any position. While rolling over to the side can help, some patients have difficulty snoring when they sleep on their backs.
Sleep-disordered or heavy breathing without snoring can indicate sleep apnea, which is also a close relative and requires medical attention.
A person can’t rely on loud snoring to diagnose sleep apnea. Even if the snoring seems to be infrequent or quiet, a person could have sleep apnea. Sleep apnea can be diagnosed even if there is no snoring.
A person who is unable to sleep alone could have sleep apnea. To suggest that a specialist be seen, they will need to look at the nine other signs of sleep apnea.
Pauses during Sleep
Everybody’s breathing patterns are different during sleep. You may experience a moment of pause in your breathing just before you fall asleep, or when you wake up. Your dream breathing can also be irregular. These are normal changes in breathing that occur while you’re asleep.
A person suffering from sleep apnea may stop breathing completely and hold their breath for an unusually long time. These periods of breathing that stop are called an apnea episode, or an apnea incident. Apnea events can last for as little as 10 seconds up to more than one minute.
There are many ways sleep specialists can measure sleep apnea. The Apnea Index is a measure of the number of apnea episodes per hour. Another indicator is the length of the apnea episodes. A person with an Apnea Index 20 (20 apnea episodes/hour of sleep) would be diagnosed as having moderately severe sleep apnea. If the episodes last longer than 10 seconds, a specialist would consider the individual to have sleep apnea.
Oxygen saturation, another measure of sleep apnea, is also known as oxygen saturation. You can’t breathe if you don’t take in oxygen. The oxygen in your bloodstream slowly runs out and organs aren’t getting the oxygen they require. The brain is sensitive to oxygen deprivation.
A person suffering from sleep apnea could have had hundreds of episodes of not breathing by morning. Is it possible that such a person wouldn’t be aware of the struggle to breathe? No. No. People with sleep apnea are often so sleep-deprived they are unable to breathe normally and rarely even realize it. Sometimes, patients with sleep apnea will experience a brief snort when they wake up, especially during naps and when they are seated.
They will likely describe their problem as “insomnia.”
Most people with sleep apnea don’t even know they have it. Many people have no complaints about their sleep. Many people will tell you that they sleep well and wish your bedmate would stop snoring.
Listen! Listen! For both the patient and their doctor, a tape recording can help to prove that the person has a sleep disorder.
Excessive daytime sleepiness
People with sleep apnea most commonly complain of excessive sleepiness.
EDS is a condition that affects two-thirds of patients with sleep apnea. EDS can have a gradual creep up over them, making it difficult to know what normal feels like. Some people believe they are normal and that their drowsiness just means they are getting older. Others may feel that they need a vacation.
Sleep apnea sufferers can come up with endless reasons why they fall asleep at work, behind the wheel, while driving, at dinner, on the couch, at parties, or at sporting events.
It is normal to struggle to stay awake even during boring meetings. You should not struggle with sleepiness throughout the day. This is abnormal. You need to find out right away if you don’t want it to ruin your life.
Poor nighttime sleep is the main cause of excessive daytime sleepiness. This happens when sleep is disrupted repeatedly throughout the night due to apnea events. Sleep apnea is a condition that causes a person to not get enough sleep and is of poor quality. People with sleep apnea have a constant need for sleep, which can carry over into their daily lives. They are forced to fall asleep frequently and easily at their desks, while they read or watch TV, and while driving.
Unexplained Fatigue
People with sleep apnea also experience fatigue. Fatigue is not the same as sleepiness. Fatigue is not a desire to go to sleep. It’s a feeling of being exhausted and drained. Sleep apnea sufferers often feel tired all the time. Many people with sleep apnea don’t realize they feel tired more often than they should. This is because the condition has been there for many years and has become increasingly worse. They assume their fatigue is a normal part of aging.
As with drowsiness and exhaustion, a constant feeling is not normal. It is not a sign of aging that you will feel exhausted. If you feel tired all the time, it could be a sign of a medical condition. This could be due to sleep apnea. A physician should consider sleep apnea a possibility for unexplained fatigue and refer the patient to a sleep clinic to be tested.
Obesity
More than half of obese people suffer from sleep apnea, but don’t know it.
There is a complicated relationship between weight and sleep disorders. Sleep apnea can make the problem worse and vice versa. Late-onset diabetes (also known as type II diabetes) is common in adults who are overweight. These three factors–obesity, diabetes, and sleep apnea -all can contribute to the development of cardiovascular and heart disease.
Weight loss is a common treatment for sleep apnea. However, most people can’t lose weight until they have been treated.
Sleep apnea is not a condition that is only experienced by overweight people. Even people who are very thin may suffer from severe sleep apnea.
Changes in alertness or memory
People with an untreated sleep disorders may notice a decline in alertness and difficulty concentrating over time. This can lead to job problems and auto accidents. Sleep apnea is a common cause of memory loss. This can be attributed to “just getting older.” But, after treatment, many of these faculties will return.
Changes in mood, personality, or behavior
Sleep apnea may mimic depression, laziness, or personality changes. Sleep apnea is often associated with increased irritability, short temper, and “crabbiness”. However, excessive daytime sleepiness, such as excessive daytime sleepiness, can also be caused by stress, job dissatisfaction, relationship problems, or stress.
Friends and family are often the first to notice signs of sleep apnea. These include a shift in sleeping or waking habits, decreased energy, decreased productivity at work, mood changes, or mood changes. Sleep apnea may be suspected if the affected person notices any of these behavior changes.
Unexpected changes in mental sharpness and personality should be a cause for concern. If they occur with apnea while sleeping, fatigue, weight gain, sleepiness, or any other symptoms listed in this article, it is possible that you have sleep apnea.
Impotence, Morning Headaches, and Bed-wetting
Sleep apnea can also cause impotence, morning headaches, and bed-wetting. Most people only have one or two of the 10 symptoms. The disorder is usually only visible in a few people.
It is important that you remember that sleep apnea symptoms can also be caused by other conditions, which could prove to be dangerous. To rule out other conditions and get the right diagnosis, anyone who suspects that they have sleep apnea should consult a specialist in sleep disorders medicine.
Summary
If a person has signs of sleep apnea, it could affect his health.
- If the person stops breathing after a period of more than 10 seconds.
- This can happen if it happens five or more times in an hour of sleep.
These are the most frequent signs and symptoms of sleep disorder called sleep apnea.
- Loud and irregular snoring
- Snorts, gasps, and other unusual sounds of breathing during sleep
- Sleeping with long pauses in breathing
- Excessive daytime sleepiness
- Fatigue
- Obesity
- Alertness, memory, personality, or behavior changes
- Impotence
- Morning headaches
- Bed-wetting
You should consult your doctor if you experience loud, irregular or labored breathing while sleeping, as well as any other symptoms.