Obstructive Sleep Apnea ( Osa ) Essay

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.

     Sleep is essential to life; it is one of several components, including food and water, which keep the living alive. However, a significant percentage of the human population has considerable difficulty reaching and maintaining Stage IV within their sleeping patterns, the stage that allows the mind and body to fall into a deep and restorative sleep, otherwise known as REM sleep. At the core of this difficulty is a condition known as obstructive sleep apnea, a "serious, potentially life-threatening condition that is far more common than generally understood" (Sleep Apnea). Indeed, obstructive sleep apnea can be very dangerous if it is not properly detected and treated.

Although obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is known to be a common form of sleep-disordered breathing and increase the overall risk of mortality by one and a half times in serious cases, many patients with OSA remain undiagnosed and unrecognized by healthcare professionals (Stuart et al, 2013). Depending on the source, up to approximately 10% of women and 25% of men have OSA, while the overall prevalence of OSA in the general population is between 3% and 7%. OSA is more common in individuals who are obese, older, male, African American or of Pacific Island descent, have a family history of OSA, or have a large neck size/small airway. Patients with OSA have been shown to have a higher incidence of significant systemic conditions such as hypertension, cerebrovascular accident, myocardial infarction, arrhythmias, diabetes, and dementia. Some of the eye problems linked to OSA include glaucoma/other optic neuropathies, retinal vein occlusions, central serous retinopathy (CSR), papilledema/idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), floppy eyelid syndrome (FES), and corneal disorders (i.e. keratoconus). This provides optometrists and ophthalmologists with a tremendous opportunity to play an important role in diagnosing and managing patients with OSA as well as improving their quality of life.

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.

Psychology is an immense, widely varied, and diverse field of study. Over the years, the field of psychology has grown, and so have the vast topics the field examines and studies. A few major perspectives of psychology are psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and biological (Cherry, 2016). Of these areas, OSA can fit under the biological perspective. Obstructive Sleep Apnea suitably relates to this category since it is largely a result of our biological, or physical, makeup.

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).

In the article “Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Women: Specific Issues and Interventions,” obstructive sleep apnea is classified by a few symptoms that patients might experience, including weariness, drowsiness during the day, challenges focusing and completing tasks, depression, poor sleep, and often insomnia. (Wimms, Woehrle, Ketheeswaran, Ramanan, & Armitstead 2016). This specific type of sleep disorder can be quite challenging at times to diagnose. One mechanism that is available to measure how severe one’s obstructive sleep apnea is called the Apnea- hypopnea index (AHI). This index calculates the number of the times that a patient’s airway is blocked every hour during sleep (Wimms et. al., 2016). The physical impact of severe obstructive sleep

The review of literature emphasized the following aspects related to the present research: (A) Background of obstructive sleep apnea, (B) Obstructive sleep apnea’s quality of life, (C) Neck Circumference and Body Mass Index, (D) Older adults, (E) Sleep recommendations, (F) Sleep positions, (G)Nutrition, (H) Weight loss, (I) Exercise benefits, and (J) Synopsis.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is highly prevalent but very frequently undiagnosed. OSA is an independent risk factor for depression and cognitive impairment/dementia. Herein we reviewed studies in the literature pertinent to the effects of OSA on the cerebral microvascular and neurovascular systems and present a model to describe the key pathophysiological mechanisms that may underlie the associations, including hypoperfusion, endothelial dysfunction, and neuroinflammation. Intermittent hypoxia plays a critical role in initiating and amplifying these pathological processes. Hypoperfusion and impaired cerebral vasomotor reactivity lead to the development or progression of cerebral small vessel disease (C-SVD). Hypoxemia exacerbates these processes,

This study investigated the positive correlation between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with an increased rate of postoperative complications including (1) postoperative hypoxemia, (2) intensive care unit (ICU) transfers, and (3) prolonged length of hospital stay in noncardiac surgical patients. OSA patients commonly express cardiac disease, have an increased risk for postoperative morbidity, and OSA is considered an independent risk factor for patient mortality. This study is significant because there remains a substantial number of patients that arrive for surgery without preceding diagnosis, while there continues to be no standardized diagnostic tool readily available to diagnose OSA within the preoperative area. Kaw et al. demonstrates that there is a increase in many postoperative complications within this at risk patient population.

I remember about a few months ago I had a dream about my second oldest sister boyfriend(Rodrick), he had borrowed my oldest sister(Cindy) car because he had to go somewhere and Cindy lend her car to him. In the dream I was standing in the kitchen n my mom house beside the sink looking through the window that overlooks the back yard in the corner off my eyes I see my sister I thought it was driving down the drive way fast then crashes her car into the tree the door opens that’s when I notice it was Rodrick, my dream ends. I walk into the kitchen and I see my sister there and I tell her what I had dreamed of and she said it was crazy because she was going to let him borrow her car today but he had change his mind. Scientifically I think him crashing

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For children with obstructive sleep apnea their cognitive development may be compromised. “Researchers have speculated that untreated childhood OSAS could permanently alter a developing child’s cognitive potential” (Ding, Liu, & Zhang, 2010, p. 236). The periods of sleep where a child’s body is deprived of oxygen are dangerous to the brain. If the obstructive sleep apnea can be diagnosed and corrected at a young age students have the change to regain what cognitive function may have been lost. In a study of 19 pre-school children diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea there cognitive scores were significantly lower than those of their peers in a control group. The 19 pre-school children underwent surgery to remove their tonsils and adenoids and were retested on their cognitive function. The children’s scores improved compared to their scores before surgery and were not different from their peers in the control group. “This underscores the importance of diagnosis and treatment, insofar as cognitive impairments will arise in the developing brain of children, unlike in adults in whom development is completed” (Ding, Liu, & Zhang, 2010, p. 237). Brain development impacts a child for life and a lack of quality sleep has lasting effects on that development. “Efficient sleep is important to protect vital functions of the developing brain for children (such as memory consolidation), and good sleep is maintained by minimizing sleep disruptions from arousals” ( (Ding, Liu, & Zhang, 2010, p. 238). For children who are suffering from obstructive sleep apnea and are never diagnosed they may lose IQ points because “prolonged and untreated sleep deprivation causes the neurons in the brain to be stressed and eventually die. That translates into a loss of IQ. On average, children with OSA see a six-to- eight point drop in IQ…” (Gulli, 2009). This effect on a child’s cognitive

I just spent the better part of my weekend binge watching Parks and Recreation on Netflix. Netflix the reason I do not get eight hours of sleep everyday, just like many college students whose priorities have yet to be put in order. I like to think that I will just catch up on my sleep over the weekend or the next day, but all of that is a lie. The truth is that sleep is a very important part of our day, and skipping it to watch Arrow, is not something a responsible person should do. According to Essentials of Understanding Psychology by Robert S. Feldman, about 50 percent of Americans age 19 to 29 get less than seven hours of sleep. There many different types of sleep problems that a person can have. For example, sleep apnea, which according to Essentials of Understanding Psychology, is when a person can not breathe easily while sleeping. Obviously one of disorders is insomnia. I will provide sometimes to how to deal with insomnia and other sleep disorders. Although, some people have to live with having sleep apnea, insomnia, or other sleep disorders, there are some ways to deal with them. Sleep apnea is kind of tricky, though.

Obstructive sleep apnea may often present as other problems, including depression, behavior disorders, or attention deficit disorder. Common signs and symptoms of this disorder include snoring, restless sleep, daytime napping, behavior problems, and headaches upon awakening. Parents may misinterpret these signs and symptoms as evidence of attention deficit disorder. Identification of any of these signs is sufficient for a referral to a sleep disorder specialist and consideration of a formal sleep study. Failure to identify and treat this problem will virtually assure lack of success in weight control efforts and will accelerate further weight gain and the onset of other disorders.