When your sleep is upset throughout the night, you can be very sleepy during the day. Perhaps you have sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a breathing disorder marked by many brief interruptions of breathing during sleep.
1. Sleep apnea is most common among women.
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Although sleep apnea occurs in both genders and among all age groups, it is most often diagnosed in middle-aged men. It may be under-diagnosed in women. About 18 million Americans have sleep apnea. You are more likely to have or develop sleep apnea if you are overweight and snore, have high blood pressure, or have an abnormality in your nose, throat, or upper airway. Genes appear to play a role in sleep apnea, because the condition tends to run in families.
2. A person with moderate sleep apnea may temporarily stop breathing during sleep as many as 30 times an hour.
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Sleep apnea is graded as mild, moderate, or severe by how many times breathing stops during an hour. Mild apnea is 5 to 15 times per hour, moderate is 15 to 30 times an hour, and severe is more than 30 times per hour.
3. Snorting and gasping during sleep are symptoms of sleep apnea.
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The snorting and gasping occur as you start breathing after a temporary stop. Other symptoms of sleep apnea include snoring, frequent awakenings during the night, a choking sensation during sleep, daytime sleepiness, a morning headache, difficulty focusing attention, memory loss, irritability, and sexual problems.
4. A person who snores always has sleep apnea.
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Although just about everyone with sleep apnea snores, not everyone who snores has sleep apnea. Snoring occurs when air moving through the passages at the back of the mouth and nose is blocked. This area is where the soft palate and uvula meet the tongue and upper throat. This area can collapse and vibrate during breathing. Besides sleep apnea, common causes of snoring include:
Poor muscle tone in the tongue and throat, caused by alcohol or drugs
Too much throat tissue in the form of enlarged tonsils and adenoids
A long soft palate or uvula, or both
A stuffy or blocked nose
5. Of the 2 forms of sleep apnea, central sleep apnea is much more common.
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There are 2 forms of sleep apnea: central sleep apnea and obstructive sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea means air cannot flow in or out of your nose or mouth. It is much more common. In central sleep apnea, your brain fails to send a signal to the breathing muscles to start breathing.
6. One way to help get a good night's sleep if you have sleep apnea is to take a sleeping pill.
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You should not take sleeping pills if you have sleep apnea. You should also not drink alcoholic or caffeinated beverages or smoke before going to bed. Many of these makes the airway more likely to collapse during sleep.
7. Sleep apnea may be annoying, especially to those who have to listen to the snoring, but it's nothing to worry about.
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If you have sleep apnea, you are sleepy during the day. That daytime sleepiness puts you at risk for accidents when driving a vehicle or operating machinery. Over time, the increased stress on your body caused by the airway blockage can lead to high blood pressure (hypertension). This can cause the heart's left ventricle to thicken. The left ventricle is the heart's main pumping chamber. the lower amounts of oxygen may harm the blood vessels of the heart and raise your risk for coronary disease. Sleep apnea also lowers your quality of life because it affects your mental state or mood. You many not know that you have sleep apnea. Your spouse may be the first to suspect that something is wrong, usually from the heavy snoring and apparent struggle to breathe. Your co-workers and friends may notice that you fall asleep during the day, especially when working or talking.
8. Measuring how quickly you fall asleep is part of diagnosing sleep apnea.
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A healthcare provider may have difficulty diagnosing sleep apnea because there can be many reasons for disturbed sleep. Your provider may order a mean wakefulness test or a multiple sleep latency test (MSLT). These tests find out how quickly you fall asleep during the day. Or they see if you are able to stay awake when not too stimulated. People without sleep problems usually fall asleep in 10 to 20 minutes. People with a possible sleep disorder may fall asleep in less than 8 minutes. Besides the MSLT, polysomnography also helps diagnose the condition. Polysomnography looks at electrical activity of the brain, eye movement, muscle activity, heart rate, breathing effort, air flow, and blood oxygen levels during sleep.
9. Surgery is the best treatment for sleep apnea.
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The treatment of choice for sleep apnea is CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure). This is a scuba masklike breathing device that blows a regular stream of air through the nose and throat. This constant flow of air forces the floppy tissues to stay open, helping you breathe normally. Other types of treatment include behavior changes. This might include:
Losing weight or using pillows so that you will sleep on your side
Devices that pull your jaw forward during sleep. They prevent the airway from being obstructed.
Oral or bariatric surgery
Oxygen is not a treatment for sleep apnea, until you refuse other treatments. This is because oxygen doesn't cure sleep apnea or prevent daytime sleepiness. Some people with sleep apnea may need surgery to increase the size of the airway. None of the surgical procedures used is completely successful or without risks. Some people may need more than one surgical procedure before their condition improves.
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