Sleep Apnea and the Breathless Nights

Meaning cessation of breath, sleep apnea is a common and yet very serious sleep disorder in which the breathing stops or becomes very shallow while sleeping. 

These pauses in breathing can happen 20 to 30 times per hour or hundreds of times each night and can last from 10 to 30 seconds or more. 

When sleep apnea occurs you typically don’t even know that it is happening but on occasion you might wake up gasping for air.  Sleep apnea is typically accompanied by snoring and can be a direct result of daytime fatigue. 

The two kinds of sleep apnea are obstructive apnea and central apnea.

With nine out of ten sufferers being diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea it is the most common type of sleep apnea.  Sleep apnea is typically caused by a partial or complete blockage of the breathing airway in your nose or throat. This blockage can be caused by large tonsils, a large tongue or by excess tissue in the airway, which is more common among people who are overweight. 

The second type of sleep apnea is central sleep apnea and it is quite rare. With central apnea, the muscles you use to breathe don't get the "go-ahead" signal from your brain. Either the brain doesn't send the signal, or the signal gets interrupted resulting in apnea.

After a thorough medical exam and a review of your medical history, your physician will generally order a sleep study in order to diagnose sleep apnea. This painless exam requires you to spend the night in a sleep study lab while connected to a machine which tracks episodes of apnea.  This exam will confirm the presence and type of sleep apnea. 

Treating sleep apnea is based on the cause of the apnea and can be accomplished rather simply with a dental device that can treat mild cases by moving the jaw forward and opening the airways.  A very common treatment involves the use of a CPAP, a continuous positive pressure, machine. 

By wearing a special face mask, the CPAP machine helps keep the airways open by adding pressure to the air your normally breath.  In very few cases, surgery may be necessary in order to remove the tonsils or excess tissue from the throat. 

Sleep apnea can definitely affect your life but the good news is that often with appropriate treatment you may feel better than you have felt in a very long time. 

See Also:
Cause Of Sleep Apnea