What is Sleep Apnea?

Sleep Apnea is serious and potentially life-threatening medical condition that causes a person to actually stop breathing while asleep. These interruptions of oxygen cause a wide variety of symptoms, and are linked to some serious conditions such as weight gain, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. 

Apnea sufferers can stop breathing as many as 40 times per minute. They awaken feeling as though they had little or no sleep because they’ve been fighting for oxygen all night.

Apnea episodes can occur from 6 to 100 times per hour. This oxygen deprivation causes people to feel exhausted when they wake up, as though they haven’t really been sleeping. They’ve spent most of the night fighting for air, so it’s no wonder side effects like feeling tired, headachy, and irritable are prevalent. Furthermore, the lower oxygen levels also put a strain on the heart.

Sleep apnea has a number of causes. While much research has been conducted and is still underway, there is no single identifiable cause in every sleep apnea patient. Some researchers have found that certain conditions like obesity, encephalitis, neurodegenerative diseases, and cervical spine complications actually lead to sleep apnea. Usually, sleep apnea is caused by mechanical and structural problems in the airway that interrupt breathing while you sleep. On the other hand, sleep apnea may occur because the throat muscles and tongue relax while you sleep and block the airway. In obese individuals, sleep apnea may be caused by the narrowing of the airway, due to the excess amounts of tissue in the throat and neck.

The most common type of sleep apnea is Obstructive sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea is caused by a blockage of the airway. With Obstructive sleep apnea, air cannot flow into or out of the person’s nose or mouth although efforts to breathe continue. The upper airway becomes obstructed by excess tissue. This obstruction may be located in the nasal passages or the structure of the jaw and airway, and may be one of the causes of sleep apnea. Another type of sleep apnea is Central sleep apnea, which is much less common. In a case of Central sleep apnea, the brain fails to send the appropriate signals to the breathing muscles to initiate respirations.

Sleep Apnea is a very serious condition, and deserves attention so that you can sleep better and live longer.

Read more on Sleep Apnea Causes