Essay on sleep apnea

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.

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 common, yet under recognized condition. It is estimated that some form of OSA affects approximately 17% of the adult population. Over the years, this number has consistently increased possibly secondary to the rising prevalence of obesity in the population [1]. The pathophysiology of OSA is postulated to be related to decreased parasympathetic activity during sleep, leading to decreased muscle tone in the upper airway, which can lead to repetitive collapse of the upper airway, causing the characteristic apneic or hypopneic events that define the diagnosis of OSA [2].

The intention of this paper is to describe the epidemiology and risk factors of the most common respiratory sleep disorder, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and to examine the link between OSA and the array of negative health issues, concentrating on the cardiovascular evidence.

Do you get elbowed, and told to roll over in the middle of the night? Do you wake up in the morning exhausted? It’s possible that you could have a severe and potentially fatal disorder called Obstructive Sleep Apnea. OSA can affect anyone; from infants to adults, the healthy and physically fit, and the obese.

Sleep apnea is defined as the repeated, temporary pauses in breathing during sleep. This makes sense when you know that Apnea is the Greek word for “want of breath.” Loud snoring or episodes of snoring coupled with pauses in breathing are typical signs of sleep apnea.

Obstructive sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder that occurs when a person's breathing is paused during sleep. People with untreated obstructive sleep apnea stop breathing repeatedly during their sleep, some nights hundreds of times (Montesi, Bajwa, Malhorta, 2012). This is a rising health concern for people in the United States. There are two types of sleep apnea. The first type of sleep apnea is obstructive sleep apnea, and it is the more common of the two forms of

Since the dawn of time humans, for some reason or another has had difficulty with sleep. The cause could vary from the rock pillow was too hard to a pea under the mattress. We have now come to learn that a disorder called sleep apnea could be the reason. According to the National Institutes of Health approximately 12 million United States citizens were afflicted by this disorder (Singer). The Greek word Apnea means without breath and sleep apnea is an involuntary cessation of breathing that occurs while a person is asleep (American Sleep Apnea Association). There are three different types of sleep apnea, when the back of the throat closes called Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), for Central Sleep Apnea the brain “forgets” to signal muscles to

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.

Sleep Apnea is a sleep disorder that causes sleep interruption and a lack of oxygen to the brain. Many people know adults with this disorder who have had to attend sleep studies or wear breathing machines overnight, but what are the implications for children with sleep apnea? Research suggests that children with sleep apnea are in danger developmentally if their condition goes undiagnosed. The lack of quality sleep in children can lead to difficulties socially, emotionally, and cognitively. Unfortunately there is not a lot of research or many specialists devoted to this topic and many children who are suffering go undiagnosed. The American Sleep Apnea Association’s list of Pediatric Sleep Specialists lists only 33 doctors in the United States;

Sleep apnea is a condition in which breathing pauses during sleep. When you have sleep apnea, you move out of deep sleep and into light sleep. As a result, you do not sleep well and your body does not get the rest it needs. If sleep apnea is not treated, it can lead to:

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) occurs when the airway in the throat close repeatedly during sleep disrupting the person’s normal sleep cycle. It causes apneas, arousals, and loud snoring. In contrast to central sleep apnea, OSA is commonly recognized by an individual’s bed partner. However, the most conclusive method of diagnosing OSA is clinical evaluation and overnight polysomnography studies.5 OSA is the most common form of sleep apnea in the ESRD population.2