Sleep Apnea
What is sleep apnea?
Sleep apnoea is a condition that, by definition, refers to a person ceasing breathing or having pauses in their breathing whilst asleep. In other words, these people are asleep, their airway is either obstructed or collapses or there is something that occurs in the brain that stops them from breathing in their sleep.
How many types of sleep apnea are there?
There are 2 types of sleep apnea. There is what we call central sleep apnea. In other words, where the brain is damaged and that causes breathing to stop in sleep. Central sleep apnea is usually associated with a brain disorder such as having had a stroke. The more common form of sleep apnea is called obstructive sleep apnea. This occurs most commonly in men over fifty years of age who are over weight, who snore, have a large collar size, and they tend to be sleepy in the day. There are other forms or other causes of obstructive sleep apnea, other than being male, overweight, and over fifty. In some individuals who have large tonsils or anatomical problems in the back of the throat such as large tonsils, elongated soft palette. They have obstructed sleep apnea due to an anatomical problem. The tonsils or the soft palette actually obstruct the air way. These individuals can easily be treated by surgical intervention.
How can people with sleep apnea be treated?
The mainstay of treatment for people with obstructive sleep apnea is to enable the airway to remain open during the course of the night. This may involve, in the first instance, bringing the jaw forward and allowing the tongue base to move forward and hence keep the airflow smooth during the course of the night. A second, and more popular form of treatment, is by using a device that pumps air into the lungs during the course of the night. This device is called a Continuous Positive Airways Pressure device (CPAP) - and this device pumps air through a mask into the lungs overnight and keeps the airway open and hence keeps the oxygen levels in our blood normal.
What can happen to people who suffer from sleep apnea?
Sleep apnea is a potentially life-threatening and dangerous sleep disorder. In short, during the course of sleep apnea the airway collapses or is obstructed. There is a porosity of airflow to the lung and as a result our blood is then oxygen-deprived and our body and vital organs are oxygen-deprived during the course of the night. As a direct result of having sleep apnea, one could imagine that the heart will have to work harder in order to pump blood to the vital organs during the night. As a result of that, people with obstructive sleep apnea are likely to develop high blood pressure. There's also a close correlation between having obstructive sleep apnea and developing diabetes. If someone has sleep apnea the associated problems are high blood pressure and diabetes, and the associated problems with high blood pressure and diabetes are an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
How can sleep apnea be cured?
Sleep apnea is effectively treated by the use of continuous positive airway pressure or CPAP C-P-A-P. This is a device that pumps air at a specific pressure into the lungs via a mask and maintains an open airway throughout the night, thereby allowing adequate air to reach the lungs and for our body to have enough oxygen through the night.
How many people suffer from sleep apnea?
Sleep apnoea affects between 6 and 8 per cent of the male population over the age of 50. And between 2 and 4 per cent of the female population over the age of 50. It becomes more common in women after the menopause and it's thought that estrogen is protective for the development of sleep apnoea.
