What Is 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.

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

Causes: The condition can develop in people who have a problem with the brainstem, which is the part of the brain that controls breathing. Situations that can cause or lead to CSA include: issues that involve the brainstem, such as encephalitis (brain infection), stroke, or conditions of the neck, injury to the brainstem, obesity, neurological disorders (such as Parkinson’s disease), and certain medicines (for instance narcotic painkillers). “If the apnea is not associated with another disease, it is called idiopathic central sleep apnea” (Central Sleep Apnea, Sept. 2017).

Heart issues: problems like congestive heart failure and fibrillation issues can contribute to sleep apnea.

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.

There is a strong association between obstructive sleep apnea and hypertension, among cardiac conditions such as heart failure, cardiac arrhythmias and coronary heart disease. OSA and hypertension share similar risk factors such as age and obesity, and are commonly co-morbid. During an obstructive sleep apnea episode the patient experiences reduced airflow due to obstruction in the upper airway, leading to hypoxia and hypercapnia, the patient is typically awakened by these episodes. Due to hypoxia, OSA causes an increase in sympathetic activity, endothelial dysfunction and increased oxidative stress. Increase systemic activity leads to an increase in both heart rate and blood pressure. Endothelial dysfunction is an imbalance of vasorelaxation

Sleep apnea is characterized in a similar manner to hypopnea, a lack of airflow and oxygen levels at night whilst sleeping. However there are some key differences. Sleep hypopnea is a part of the obstructive sleep apnea family, and therefore has to deal with any obstructions that occur in the airways whilst sleeping (Phillips, 2015). Central sleep apnea, is another type of sleep apnea that can occur in people. This apnea is very different from obstructive sleep apnea. This apnea is caused because the brain temporarily fails to signal to the muscles that are in charge of controlled breathing. Obstructive sleep apnea is referred to as a mechanical problem, whereas central sleep apnea is referred to as a communication problem (Phillips, 2015). Central sleep apnea is much less common than obstructive sleep apnea and it can be caused by medical conditions that affect the brainstem. The symptoms of central sleep apnea are very similar to obstructive sleep apnea: stopping breathing or irregular breathing during sleep, shortness of breath leading to awakenings, chronic fatigue, excessive daytime drowsiness, morning headaches, poor/restless sleep, difficulty concentrating, mood changes, and snoring (Phillips, 2015). The treatment for central sleep apnea is by using a CPAP machine or a BPAP machine (which is very similar to a CPAP), certain medications have also been known to help stimulate proper breathing whilst sleeping (Phillips, 2015). Finally, the last kind of sleep apnea that can occur is complex sleep apnea. This type of sleep apnea is a mixture of obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea. Essentially, this type of apnea occurs because of slight obstruction and the brain failing to properly inform the muscles to breathe (Phillip, 2015). BPAP machines and Adaptive servo ventilators “have shown successful use as the machines are capable of performing a

Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder caused by a blockage of the airways during sleep. It causes interruptions of the breath during sleep and can actually wake you up! This causes poor quality of sleep and stress on the entire body.

Avi Weisfogel is a dentist who uses oral remedies to treat sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a disorder that blocks breathing when one is asleep. This disorder mostly affects people who are overweight. Although the disorder is said to mainly come from overweight issues there are other factors that can cause it. People with genetic issues like enlarged tonsils and chronic nasal conditions are at a higher risk of suffering from sleep apnea.From the data gotten from Dr. Avi Weisfogel`s research adults are more likely to suffer from this disorder than children. The most common symptom is snoring. However sleep apnea patients can suffer from drowsiness, forgetfulness and even severe headaches. This is because the patients sleep is often disturbed from

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.

Sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder in which breathing is interrupted repeatedly during sleep. “APNEA” means a breathing pause that lasts about 10 seconds. Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is most common in people who are overweight.

Obstructive sleep apnea is up to four times as common in men as in women, but women are more likely to develop sleep apnea during pregnancy and after menopause. In older adults, the gender gap narrows after women reach menopause. More than half of people with obstructive sleep apnea are either overweight or obese, which is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 25-29.9 or 30.0 or above, respectively. In adults, excess weight is the strongest risk factor associated with obstructive sleep

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is a sleep disorder where the patient suffers from a disturbed airflow during sleep due to partial or complete closure of the upper airway. Little is known about the flow pattern in the pharynx and its effects on OSA1. Phase-Contrast-MRI (PC-MRI) is an established technique to visualize and quantify fluid flow. PC-MRI has been previously used to study flow patterns in stenotic phantom2, hence it is used here to investigate flow patterns in the pharynx to understand OSA.