Posted On: 2022-02-18 12:56:35
Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea is a potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts. If you snore loudly and feel tired even after a full night's sleep, you might have sleep apnea.
What are the 3 types of sleep apnea?
There are three forms of sleep apnea: central, obstructive, and complex. The most common of these is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
Central sleep apnea :
CSA also inhibits breathing at night, but it does not occur due to upper airway obstruction. Instead, the cause is neurological.
In this, the body does not try to breathe in central sleep apnea, so there is no snoring. Instead, because the brain and nervous system do not consistently send a signal to breathe, the person stops breathing.
Some people have no symptoms, but others may notice:
insomnia
waking up short of breath or feeling panicky
daytime sleepiness or trouble concentrating
Some potential causes include:
drugs, especially sedating drugs such as opiates
sleeping at high altitudes
congestive heart failure
Complex sleep apnea:
Having one type of sleep apnea does not necessarily mean that a person cannot have another.
Complex sleep apnea syndrome is a type of sleep apnea that combines trusted Source OSA and central sleep apnea. Sometimes, complex sleep apnea syndrome is obvious in an initial sleep study. Other times, it becomes apparent after the apnea does not resolve with a typical CPAP machine or other traditional OSA treatments.
The symptoms are similar to those of OSA and include:
brief wakings from sleep
daytime fatigue
confusion on getting up
headaches or dry mouth
insomnia or poor quality sleep
What is Obstructive Sleep Apnea?
Obstructive sleep apnea is when something blocks a part or all of your upper airway while you sleep. Your diaphragm and chest muscles have to perform harder to open your airway and pull air into your lungs. Your breath can become very superficial, or you may even stop breathing shortly. You usually start to breathe again with a loud gasp, snort, or body jerk. You may not sleep satisfactorily, but you probably won't know that it’s happening to you. This condition can also lower the flow of oxygen to your organs and cause uneven heartbeats.
Obstructive sleep apnea usually happens when the muscles that control your airway relax too much, narrowing your throat. You wake up for an instant to reopen your airway in sleep so there is a probability you won't remember doing it. This might happen multiple times each hour. Other things that block your throat can cause obstructive sleep apnea, like obesity, swollen tonsils, and health problems like endocrine disorders or heart failure. OSA is most common among older males, but it can affect anyone, including children. This incidence increases following menopause, such that the rates are similar in men and postmenopausal women.
Approximately 3-7% of men and 2-5% of women have sleep apnea. Worldwide, over 100 million people suffer from sleep apnea. According to estimates, the probability of obstructive sleep apnea increases with age from 2% at age 30 for females to 28% at 60 years. For males, the figures increase from 4% at age 30 to 67% at 60 years of age.
What are the symptoms of OSA?
Signs and symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea include:
Excessive daytime sleepiness
Loud snoring
Observed episodes of stopped breathing during sleep
Abrupt awakenings accompanied by gasping or choking
Awakening with a dry mouth or sore throat
Frequent headaches
Difficulty concentrating during the day
Mood changes, such as depression or irritability
High blood pressure
Decreased libido
waking during sleep or feeling very tired when awake
waking from sleep feeling panicked
feeling confused or unable to concentrate at work or school
Those who share beds with people with OSA may report the following:
Snorting
Interruptions in breathing while sleeping
Snoring loud enough to disturb your sleep or that of others
Waking up gasping or choking
Pausing in your breathing during sleep
Having excessive daytime drowsiness, which may cause you to fall asleep while working, watching television or even driving a vehicle
These symptoms are also often detected when checking on another complaint or during health maintenance screening.
People with OSA may also experience the following symptoms:
Morning headaches
Feeling disgruntled or grumpy
Forgetfulness
Drowsiness
Repetitive awakenings throughout the night
Other symptoms include:
Hyperactivity in children
Worsening depression
Poor job and school performance
Loss of interest in sex
Daytime drowsiness puts people with sleep apnea at risk for motor vehicle crashes and industrial accidents. Treatment can help to completely relieve daytime drowsiness.
Risk factors for sleep apnea
Obstructive sleep apnea is a familiar sleep disorder and anyone can suffer from this condition. However, certain factors increase your risk over others. For instance, if you have a large neck and/or waist, have chronic nasal congestion, suffer from hypertension and/or diabetes, and have a family history of obstructive sleep apnea, you are at more significant risk.
As per Resmed, one of the biggest risk factors for obstructive sleep apnea is being overweight or obese. This is because the fat deposits around the upper airway interfere with breathing. The 2015 study mentioned above reveals that nearly 60-70% of people suffering from obstructive sleep apnea are obese.
Hectic work schedules and busy lifestyles leave most people compromising on their sleep. This can lead to obstructive sleep apnea and affect their overall well-being, making them helpless to several health-related problems—cardiovascular disorders, diabetes, and so forth.
Although there are slight differences in sleep apnea symptoms for men and women, the risks are greater for women. Firstly, because their symptoms are not as overt, they are late or never diagnosed with OSA. Secondly, according to a recent study published in the European Respiratory Journal, women suffering from acute obstructive sleep apnea are at a two to three-fold higher risk of cancer.
Can Sleep Apnea Cause Death?
A person with sleep apnea does not necessarily die while sleeping but the threat of death increases immensely if sleep apnea is untreated. The reason people with sleep apnea do not usually die in their sleep is that when the brain senses that it doesn't have sufficient oxygen, it warns the body to wake up.
The meta-analysis showed that people with obstructive sleep apnea were approximately more likely to experience sudden death than those who did not have the sleep condition. Studies estimate that around 40 lakh people in India suffer from OSA. In addition, someone with sleep apnea will experience oxidative stressTrusted Source, which can contribute to the inequality of antioxidants in the body. This imbalance can damage cells and speed up the ageing process, causing numerous health problems over time.
Bappi Lahiri
Bappi Lahiri, the king of Bollywood Disco, passed away at the age of 69 in Mumbai this week due to Obstructive Sleep Apnea. As per the official statement released by the CritiCare Hospital, Bappi Lahiri was suffering from OSA (Obstructive Sleep Apnea) and recurrent chest infection. He was treated by Dr Deepak Namjoshi. He was hospitalized in Criticare Hospital, Juhu for 29 days. It is important to have a good and healthy lifestyle to avoid having all sorts of health conditions. Hence, keeping a check on our lifestyle routine is very important.
According to experts, the treatment for Obstructive Sleep Apnea involves using a device and other options like:
Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)
Surgery
Oral appliances
Medications
As per TOI, there are some experts who feel that eating certain types of food and avoiding certain foods can help control the impact of the disorder
Food rich in melatonin
As per experts, fruits and vegetables rich in melatonin help enhance natural sleep. Foods like asparagus, cherries, grapes, broccoli, and cucumber are rich in sleepy hormones, and consuming them before bed is supposed to be good.
Omega-3 foods
It has been proven that omega-3 fatty acids help produce abundant melatonin and foods like tuna, salmon, and shrimp are rich in omega-3 fatty acids.
Tryptophan-infused food
Tryptophan is an amino acid that when consumed naturally gets converted into melatonin and helps improve the sleep cycle. Foods like chicken, nuts, and beans are rich in tryptophan and good for people suffering from Obstructive Sleep Apnea.
What foods should one avoid?
According to experts, fatty meats like steak, pork, bacon, and lamb are high in saturated fats and should be avoided by those suffering from Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Also, bananas should be avoided as the rich amount of potassium and fibre in them may increase the mucus production in the throat and cause discomfort. Lastly, high-fat dairy items should be avoided as they also increase mucus production in the body leading to Obstructive Sleep Apnea.
Many crowdfunding platforms are helping in multiple techniques to help the patients suffering from sleep apnea. One such example is mentioned below:
Advanced Brain Monitoring Inc (ABM) is using a unique strategy to collect compliance data on its novel Night Shift obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) treatment: a crowd-funded clinical trial. Night Shift is a new neck-worn device that treats positional OSA, including severe cases up to an AHI of 60. It is in the final stages of Food and Drug Administration approval. This will be the first opportunity for OSA patients to try the device and for OSA therapy prescribers to become dealers.
The campaign launched today on crowd-funding platform Indiegogo. Patients who join the campaign will receive a Night Shift at the discounted price of $269. They will also be enrolled in a 6-month study to evaluate the therapeutic benefit, utilization, and perceived benefit to the bed partner. To help patients cover the cost of the Night Shift, ABM will assist them with obtaining insurance reimbursement.
https://sleepreviewmag.com/practice-management/money/reimbursement/night-shift-crowd-funding/
People should not neglect early indicators such as obesity, loud snoring, daytime sleepiness and a choking feeling while sleeping. These can be signs that something is not right with the body and that it is time to get a proper medical consultation at the earliest.
Author : lubdha dhanopia
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