The Basics of Sleep Apnea

By | October 6, 2016

Sleeping time is a perfect moment to rest. Everybody loves to sleep especially when you are tired of a very stressful day. However, there are associated disorders that occur while the person is asleep. The most common type of such condition is sleep apnea. It is considered a very common sleep disorder occurring not only in adults, but also in most children. It is basically characterized by several pauses in the breathing of the person while sleeping. It is often accompanied by a choking sound. It is important to treat immediately the condition of sleep apnea, but often times, it is undiagnosed by the healthcare provider. Hence, it is important to assess your body and report to your primary care physician right away if you are experiencing disturbed sleep pattern due to apnea.

There are plenty of possible ways that you can prevent the occurrence of that condition. Basically, such condition is caused by unhealthy lifestyle and stress. Hence, it is important to modify them immediately. There are different causes of the disease. According to the study, those obese or overweight patients are more prone in developing such disorder. The anatomic structure of your tongue and tonsils can also be a contributing factor in developing the said condition. The formation of your head and neck can also cause a relative effect on the condition. The muscles of the throat and tongue and muscles of the part of the body need to contract and relax. Once your throat and tongue muscle relax overly, you are primarily exposed to sleep apnea. As a person ages up, the brain signal and other physiologic function of the body deteriorates. This is also the reason why such condition is prominent in older patient.

It is mostly the male population who are affected with this type of disorder. Older people are at high risk too. Other health conditions that greatly contribute to the development of sleep apnea are diabetes, high blood pressure, and history of stroke, diabetes mellitus, and those with noted cardiac disorders. Americans, Caucasians, and Hispanics have the highest incidence. The cardinal sign of this is loud snoring followed by a gasping or choking sounds. This happens when you sleep and is being observed by the immediate family members. Subjective signs of the condition are occurrence of headache in the morning typically right after waking up. You might also feel the inability to concentrate as well as memory lapses. A very rare sign of the disorder is the change of your personality accompanied by mood swings and easy irritability. You are suspected to have the disorder if you have drying of the throat in the morning after waking up. The patient often experience frequent urination at night.

The proper way to diagnose the condition is through the use of sleep study. This is the most reliable way to diagnose the condition. The most common type of sleep study performed is the PSG or polysomnogram. This test is conducted while the patient is sleeping. Primarily, it records the brain activity. It also takes note of the general vital signs like the breathing, blood pressure as well as the heart rate of the patient. It also observes other important factors like the eye movements and other activity of the muscles. Your health care provider may also take note of your family medical history, surgical history and will conduct physical examination.

There are plenty of possible helpful ways in treating the disease. The very basic and long term means of treating the condition is through lifestyle modification. Take away all the vices and bad habits. You can also use breathing devices. A mouthpiece can help too. The last option is the surgery.

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