At least eighteen million Americans suffer from sleep apnea — while you sleep, you suddenly stop breathing. Do you know the facts about sleep apnea?
- Snoring can be an indicator of a problem. Approximately half the country saws a few logs at night; don’t assume your spouse has sleep apnea if their snores keep you awake. However, as much as twenty percent of the population does suffer from sleep apnea. If you or your bedmate snores loudly with gasping or snorting, they may have sleep apnea. But only your doctor can tell you that for sure.
- If you have sleep apnea, you can look forward to some very restless nights. Severe cases of sleep apnea could wake you up every minute — preventing you from going into the deeper stages of sleep. If you don’t get enough sleep, you’re going to be at risk for irritability, memory loss, mental fog, and even depression.
- Losing sleep is the least of your problems! In the long term, sleep apnea is associated with heart disease and puts you at greater risk for high blood pressure, heart attack, and even stroke.
- Being overweight puts you at greater risk. Extra pounds don’t cause the problem, but weight is the biggest risk factor.
- The actual cause of sleep apnea? A collapsed airway. Everybody loses a little muscle tone in their airways when they sleep. When the airway collapse is more severe, it can block airflow. People with severe apnea may stop breathing for a minute at a time regularly.
- Your best bet for a safe night’s sleep is a CPAP. CPAP stands for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. This is a machine that helps maintain air pressure and keep your airway from collapsing. It is effective for almost everyone who uses it! However, you do have to wear a mask to bed.
- Other treatment options include oral devices and even surgery to remove soft tissue from the throat and tongue. Try a CPAP before you opt for surgery — it can be very painful, difficult to recover from, and only seems to be successful in a quarter of patients.
- Learn more from the American Sleep Apnea Association: www.sleepapnea.org