In spite of their efforts to ensure they obtain sufficient sleep to prevent daytime sleepiness, many people are consistently tired during the day. Some of them have a breathing disorder called sleep apnea, although they may be completely unaware of this fact. When the symptoms of sleep apnea are unrecognized or ignored, the disorder usually causes a combination of medical, social, and psychological illnesses -- which can become life-threatening over a prolonged period. Although sleep apnea is not a curable disorder, when symptomatic individuals utilize the availability of a simplistic diagnosis process and effective treatments, they will participate in a preventative medicine, adding years to their lives.
Obstructive sleep apnea is becoming more prevalent in adults and children in our society. Obstructive sleep apnea is undiagnosed mostly in women being 92% and 80% in men. The estimated prevalence in women is 2% and in men is 4%. A study was done by the University of Pennsylvania revealing that the prevalence in women was 4% and 9% for men. Another study called The Wisconsin Cohrt study showed that people who are 30 to 60 years old, the prevalence is 9-24% for men and 4-9% for women.
Imagine that a person is sleeping and all of a sudden they wake up and are unable to breath. It is a scary thing but this happens to millions of people each year. One of the causes of this is Sleep Apnea. This paper will help identify the disorder of Sleep Apnea, its symptoms, causes, diagnosis and treatment.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a sleep–breathing disorder characterized by momentary episodes of either complete breathing cessation for periods of ten seconds or more (apnea) or significant reductions in breathing amplitude (hypopnea) caused by a collapsed or obstructed airway; these two conditions can lead to hypoxemia (low levels of oxygen in blood) and hypercapnia (high levels of carbon dioxide in blood). Patients are categorized as having mild, moderate or severe OSA depending on the apnea/hypopnea index (AHI), which is defined as the total numbers of apnea/hypopnea episodes per hour of sleep. In normal individuals the index is usually 5 or lower, 5-15 in mild, 15-30 in moderate and 30 or more in severe OSA patients (1, 2). In patients with mild OSA the oxyhemoglobin saturation drops to 95% and can drop below 80% in severe cases. Obstruction of the airways results in greater breathing effort and fluctuations in intrathoracic pressure, resulting in arousal, sleep interruption and reopening of the airway (3).
Sleep Apnea is a chronic sleep disorder causing shallow, infrequent or pauses in breathing. According to the National Sleep Foundation, sleep apnea affects more than 18 million Americans and is as common as type two diabetes. Common in both children and adults, there are three main types of sleep apnea. The first is central apnea, followed by the most common form, obstructive apnea and finally the combination of both, mixed/ complex apnea. Although these three types of apnea have differing symptoms and treatments, they all share negative effects on the body and sleep cycles. The quality of sleep is usually lower than normal, as the pauses in breathing can often bring apnea patients from a deep to a shallow slumber, as the body’s natural warning for oxygen. This lack of deep sleep can also cause drowsiness and fatigue during the daytime in addition to eyesight problems and reduced reaction times. Sleep apnea, occurring in both children and adults is higher in prevalence in Hispanic and African-American men.
Sleep apnea is a common sleeping disorder where a person has experiences of not breathing during sleep. Over 20 million Americans, mostly overweight men, suffer from sleep apnea. Despite these numbers, sleep apnea is often not treated directly because its symptoms are thought to be those of depression, stress, or just loud snoring. There may be a genetic component to this disorder as it often occurs within families.People with sleep apnea stop breathing for at least 10 seconds at a time; these short stops in breathing can happen up to 400 times every night.
Snoring or wheezing problem – Some people often snore while sleeping . The volume and frequency of snoring of someone could show whether he has a life-threatening sleep disorder or not, such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
Obstructive Sleep Apnea, OSA, is a very highly widespread and underdiagnosed disease (Kerner & Roose, 2016). The ailment can affect the person and the people around the affected individual immensely. When one takes the time to diagnose a case of OSA it can be helped and treated. Many different factors should be taken into account when dealing with Obstructive Sleep Apnea, including the psychological perspective it falls under, the research methods used to investigate it, the positive and negative components of the condition, and the controversies associated with it.
Sleep apnea can be a scary and misunderstood problem for many people. The team at Duffield Dentistry can help you get the answers you need to feel safe and secure. Below we have answered some of the questions we most commonly hear regarding sleep apnea and its treatment. If you still have questions or concerns after browsing this page, feel free to contact us. We will be happy to help you or your loved one get the care you need.
Obstructive sleep apnea has become an increasingly big problem in the United States. It is also apparent that obesity is also one of the biggest epidemics in our country as well. There is no question that both obesity and having obstructive sleep apnea go hand in hand for several reasons. I will go into some detail as to why these two go hand in hand, how young kids are now having issues with these two things, and what we as a society can do about it.
As these straphangers phone footage shows the 2016 collision on New Jersey Transit and a 2013 collision on the Metro North led to chaos, injuries, and death. These three incidents have allegedly all been linked to the engineers having sleep apnea. I interviewed the president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Here are his thoughts.
The dictionary defines sleep as “The natural periodic suspension of consciousness during which the powers of the body are restored” (Webster’s 638) If one is waking up on an average of 300 times per night, the chances of complete body restoration are minimal. The Greek word apnea literally means “without breath”. An estimated 30 million Americans stop breathing during their sleep sometimes 30-40 times per hour and often for a minute, or longer each time. Of these, about 20 million are in the early stages, and about 10 million have progressed to a level of severity that requires treatment. According to the National
The two most common causes of sleep disorder is central and obstructive sleep apnea. Central sleep apnea is when our breathing is interrupted throughout the night because your brain fails to signal the muscles to breathe. Obstructive sleep apnea occurs with blocked airways and your struggle to breathe triggers coughing or snoring – in actuality your body is grasping for air.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a major health problem, as more than 22 million adults in the U.S suffer from OSA.1 The prevalence of moderate to severe OSA in older adults aged 65 and over is twice as high as that in middle-aged adults.2 Unfortunately, estimates suggest that 85% of individuals with moderate to severe OSA remain undiagnosed.3 Individuals with untreated moderate to severe OSA are at a greater risk for depression (DEP), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and dementia compared to individuals with no OSA. In OSA, repetitive intracranial blood flow surges during apneic episodes cause disturbances in microvascular functions, resulting in hypoperfusion4-6 and poor cerebral vasomotor reactivity.7-9 Hypoxemia promotes the development of cerebral small vessel disease (C-SVD).10-13 Repeated rapid alternations between hypoxia and reoxygenation cause oxidative stress,14,15 which alters blood-brain barrier functions and leads to the formation of C-SVD.16-18 The consequences of C-SVD are 1) disruption of neuronal activity in regions involved in the regulation of mood and cognition 11,19,20 and 2) reduction of prefrontal and frontal lobe vascular perfusion,10,21-23 which causes neuronal metabolic deficiencies that may lead to synaptic loss and neuronal damage.24,25 The progression of C-SVD is now known to be associated with new-onset depression,26 MCI,27,28 and an increased risk for dementia.27,29,30 Based on this supporting evidence, we hypothesize that C-SVD may mediate