The Nightmare Of Sleep Apnea

An often diagnosed health condition among the adult population, sleep apnea occurs when the soft tissue located in the back of the throat narrows and repeatedly closes during the time you are asleep, obstructing the breathing passages.

When this occurs, the obstruction causes you to lose sleep. With the cessation of normal breathing, your body responds by waking you up. So you either wake completely or come to a more awakened level of sleep resulting in a loss of restorative sleep.

Can you say exhausted!

The human body is a charm.

It is designed to protect us. With sleep apnea your brain will wake you up when you experience an episode of sleep apnea. Because apnea episodes, lasting 10 seconds or more, can invade your night up to several hundred times every night, your restful sleep becomes interrupted and totally ineffective.

This horror leaves you feeling listless, less than alert, frustrated and even irritable. The challenge is that you may not even know that you woke up that many times during the night. Remember that your brain is trying to take care of you and doing the wake up work.

Central sleep apnea and obstructive sleep apnea are currently the two identified types of apnea, with obstructive being the most common. Treatments for sleep apnea can include both non-surgical and surgical interventions.

This health condition definitely requires the intervention provided by your physician. Once your physician is able to determine the source of your sleep apnea, then the best intervention can be designed for you. But rest assured, sleep apnea must not be ignored since your body requires restorative sleep in order to be in its most healthful state.

Get healthy! Get sleep!