Do You Know The Symptoms of Sleep Apnea?

Snoring is the most common of all the sleep related problems and the most irritating and potentially life threatening of them all.  Far from being a simple embarrassment, snoring is often connected with severe health liabilities. Snoring leads the field when looking for causes of sleep apnea, a potentially fatal interruption in one's breathing during sleep.  This alone is enough cause to push every snorer to seek treatment for their snoring. 

 

The word 'Apnea' comes from the Greek language and means 'absence of breathing' and when used to explain the medical condition, sleep apnea, means to stop breathing during sleep.  This is frightening condition often goes undetected but is life-threatening in its implications.  Sleep Apnea is divided into two main categories, Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Central Sleep Apnea.  Obstructive Sleep Apnea frequently affects snorers, and results from the air passages becoming obstructed or blocked during sleep.  Central Sleep Apnea is neurological, that is, the brain fails to send the right signals to the respiratory muscles which control breathing during sleep.  

 

Several studies have shown a strong relationship between snoring and sleep apnea.  During your sleep, the brain receives feedback from the body regarding CO2 levels and using this feedback, sends the suitable signals to the throat muscles and trachea which work in unison to control breathing.  With Obstructive Sleep Apnea the airways are physically blocked or restricted which impairs breathing.  It’s this blockage and narrowing of the air passage that causes air to vibrate as it passes through giving a horrendous noise we call snoring.  The critical factor here is that the snorer is actually not breathing for a few seconds at a time; this can be hugely damaging or even deadly.  What is even more surprising is that anyone, despite of sex or age can be affected although it’s more than likely to be older males or females. 

 

A huge amount of research has highlighted key trigger points that are increasing the risk of developing snoring and sleep apnea.  Obesity or even carrying a bit too much weight can result in excessive fat deposits around the neck narrowing the air passages and trachea.  With increasing age men, more so than their equivalently aged women, become the leaders in the risk category.  Drinking alcohol relaxes the muscles in the body including the throat increasing the risk of snoring.  Smoking increases the risks by inflaming the upper respiratory tract and narrowing the air passages.  Problems such as tonsillitis and enlarged adenoids restrict the airways leading to snoring and sleep apnea.  

 

The study by the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, at Huddinge University Hospital, Sweden, concludes that patients with heavy snoring and different degrees of respiratory disturbance had signs of pharyngeal afferent and efferent nerve lesions. These lesions may cause the collapse of upper airways in OSAS and since it is not known which group of "heavy snorer" there will develop OSAS, early effective treatment of snoring is recommended.

Comments

[craftmatic]

I was never aware of the this health issue until I came across your blog. In fact, I further read about the topic and find out that breastfeeding may reduce sleep related breathing problems such like snoring and sleep apnea among nursing infants.

[Natural Treatment for Sleep Apnea]

There are so many doctors for giving proper cure and it is not a big issue...