Obstructive Sleep Apnea

* Obstructive Sleep Apnea is when the pharyngeal airway collapses or narrows respectively during sleep. It is accompanied by excessive daytime sleepiness and risk for cardiovascular disease. Risk factors for OSA include obesity, large soft palate/tongue, the male sex, and aging.

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.

The population who are diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) often experience daytime drowsiness and are at risk for ischemic heart disease, arrhythmias, hypertension, and other vascular related problems (Hsu et al., 2007). There are several treatment options for people with OSA, which are weight loss, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), dental appliances, and surgical procedure. This study evaluates patients who have

Obstructive sleep apnea is a common disorder whose prevalence is linked to an epidemic of obesity in our country. Sleep apnea is due to recurrent episodes of upper airway obstruction during sleep that are caused by elevations in upper airway collapsibility during sleep. OSA is characterized by recurrent episodes of partial or complete airway obstruction resulting in hypoxemia, hypercapnia, or a respiratory arousal.

OSA is characterized by repeated episodes of either partial or complete obstruction of the upper airways during sleep due to excessive relaxation of airway musculature, which leads to cessation

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.

What is Sleep Apnea? Sleep apnea is sleep related breathing disorder. It disrupts a person's normal breathing pattern while sleeping. This serious disorder decreases the levels of oxygen in the blood during long periods of sleep when the breathing repeatedly stops and starts while asleep. This chronic condition happens when the muscles at the back the throat relaxes and narrows the airway causing breathing pauses or shallow breaths, a common condition called Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). This occurrence significantly affects the quality of sleep that explains the feeling of tiredness and sleepiness during the day.

Risk factors for sleep apnea include obesity, craniofacial abnormalities, smoking, male gender, short neck, and menopause in women. Obesity is one of the main risk factors of sleep apnea since 60% to 90% of OSA patients are obese and there is a strong positive correlation between body mass index (BMI) and OSA (4, 5). The overlap of obesity and OSA poses a challenge to ascribing the relative contributions of these comorbidities to

Obstructive sleep apnea is a serious, potentially life-threatening condition. It is characterized by repeated cessation of breathing while sleeping, due mostly to complete or partial pharyngeal obstruction. Objectively, it is recognized by a combination of symptoms and laboratory results. These include repetitive apneas and hypopneas, which are accompanied by hypoxia, sleep arousals, and hemodynamic changes.9–12 Moreover, activation of the sympathetic nervous system during respiratory events potentiates vasoconstriction and often triggers increases in blood pressure and heart rate.10,13 Obstructive sleep apnea is also associated with several cardiorespiratory problems (e.g., loud snoring, loud gasps, and daytime breathlessness).14,15

There is no consensus regarding the mechanism of manifestation of neurocognitive consequences associated with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and their definite underlying process is unknown.1 However, there are some findings and theories about it. In OSA, there are different levels of hypoxia, which are associated with many factors such as obesity and severity of upper airway obstruction.1

All groups were age and gender matched. The mean BMI of the IFL group was significantly higher than NFL group with no significant difference between IFL and OSAS group. The PTT Ar in the IFL groups was significantly higher than that found in the NFL group denoting the higher degree of cardiovascular arousal in the IFL group. The highest level of PTT Ar was found in the OSAS group denoting the highest degree of cardiovascular arousal compared with the

Getting restful sleep is vital. During sleep, blood pressure and body temperature changes, while respiration and heart rate decreases. Sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) is defined by repeated interruptions in breathing and / or reduced respiratory flow during sleep. The most common symptoms include difficulty breathing, snoring, restless sleep, excessive daytime sleepiness, frequent headaches, enlarged tonsils and large tongue volume, and irritability. Sleep apnea can be mild, moderate or severe. If it's left untreated, sleeping apnea may lead to diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, obesity or depression. One common treatment is the use of sleep apnea devices.

Obstructive sleep apnea, also known as OSA, is the most common form of of this disorder affecting about 20% of American adults. If the condition is left untreated, it can prove fatal. Furthermore, sleep apnea syndrome is an underlying cause of heart disease, stroke and hypertension. Further, those suffering from OSA, also suffer from central sleep apnea, another form of apnea.

of sleep apnea are obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), central sleep apnea (CSA), and complex sleep

Sleep Apnea can lead to many serious complications. The least serious complication would be daytime fatigue and sleepiness. This would be a problem because having sleep apnea makes it impossible to get REM sleep. The lack of a good night's rest causes daytime drowsiness, fatigue, and irritability (Mayo Clinic Staff Print). The more serious complications would be cardiovascular and eye problems. During sleep apnea there is a sudden drop in blood oxygen levels causing hypertension. Hypertension can lead to other heart diseases such as coronary artery disease, heart attack, stroke, and arrhythmias. (Mayo Clinic Staff Print).