Sleep apnea is a major sleeping disorder that can lead to severe health conditions. A person with sleep apnea may encounter heart trouble or high blood pressure if left untreated. If not cured, it can cause breathing to stop repeatedly while asleep. This situation causes loud snoring and daytime tiredness, even with a good and whole night’s sleep.
There’s no exemption when it comes to sleep apnea. Any person can have it, but most often, older men who are obese or overweight get affected. In this post, we’ll discuss more Sleep Apnea and the causes of this illness.
What is sleep apnea?
This is a critical sleep disorder that happens when breathing gets interrupted while asleep. Usually, people who encounter this condition stop breathing during their sleep, sometimes hundreds of times at night.
A person left untreated with Sleep apnea can endure stroke, cardiomyopathy, hypertension, diabetes, heart attacks, or any heart failure. If these continue, sleep apnea can also be responsible for work-related accidents, motor vehicle crashes, job impairment, and underachievement in school to those in the adolescent stage or children.
There are commonly two kinds of sleep apnea, central and obstructive. Let’s take a deep look at these types below.
Central Sleep Apnea
When central sleep apnea happens, the airway is not blocked. Still, the brain neglects to signal the muscles to breathe because of instability in respiratory control. Central Apnea is associated with the process of the central nervous system.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea
This kind of sleep apnea is the usual of the two. It occurs as recurrent episodes of partial and complete upper airway blockage during sleep. The chest muscles and diaphragm work harder during a panic condition as the pressure grows to open the passage.
Breathing usually comes back with a body jerk or a loud gasp. These episodes can link through sound sleep, cause heart rhythm irregularities, and reduce the flow of oxygen and vital organs.
What Happens During Sleep Apnea?
It occurs for about 25% of men and only 10% of women. It can affect any age, including children and babies and those over 50 and overweight.
Specific clinical features and physical traits are similar to individuals who experience obstructive sleep apnea. Each of these factors includes large neck and structural abnormalities decreasing the diameter of the upper way. The following contains a low-hanging soft palate, small jaw with an overbite, or n enlarged tonsils.
So, what happens when a person stops breathing with these possible conditions?
When a person stops breathing, a heart rate tends to drop the longer the body gets deprived of oxygen. The next thing that could happen is that your involuntary reflexes can shock you awake at the end of the period you’re not breathing.
In such a case, your heart rate begins to accelerate rapidly, and your blood pressure increases. These are some changes that happen when you stop breathing. Thus, your body starts to undergo effects if you suffer from frequent apnea.
Records suggest the greater risk, especially when you stop breathing around 30 times or more per hour. Yet, there is a risk at even lower frequency estimates.
As an example, when your blood pressure goes up, your heart walls thicken because of the higher workload, and the form of your heart changes. It becomes less flexible and stiffer because more fibrous cells are rising in between the muscle cells.
These states can affect a higher risk that you can have either ventricular or atrial arrhythmias. Each also reduces the heart’s function so that it becomes less efficient at pumping blood.
Now, what causes sleep apnea? Let’s see further details below.
Causes
Generally, Obstructive sleep apnea happens because of a blockage of the airway. It usually starts when the soft tissue in the rear of the throat crashes during sleep. On the other hand, central sleep apnea gets observed in primary nervous system dysfunction patients.
Sleep apnea is also usual for patients with other kidneys, heart, or lung disease forms.
The Symptoms
The first signs are seen not by the patient but through the bed partner. People who are affected have no sleep complaints. Thus, the usual symptoms of this disorder include:
- Daytime sleepiness or fatigue
- Restlessness during sleep
- Frequent nightmare awakenings
- Mood disturbances (depression or anxiety)
- Night Sweats
- Dry mouth or sore throat upon awakening
- Sudden awakenings (with choking or gasping)
- Frequent nighttime urination
- Sexual Dysfunction
- Headaches
- Snoring
People who encounter central sleep apnea report repeated awakenings or insomnia. However, they may also experience a gasping or choking sensation upon awakening. Other symptoms in children may not be visible, but it includes:
- Inward movement of ribcage when inhaling
- Excessive sweating at night
- Daytime mouth breathing and swallowing difficulty
- Unusual sleeping positions
- Bedwetting
- Poor school performance
Sleep Apnea Treatment
Getting the best device for a good night’s sleep is one solution. Breathing conditions and problems do not solve in one night. For instance, disorders like Sleep Apnea can affect your life in a fundamental aspect.
But with a CPAP device, you are one way ahead to getting good quality sleep. Several types of research carry through this device, and you can always check them for security. It would be best to check your device on your own and see the high-quality dental sleep devices for easy use.
Improving sleep can be pretty challenging. But if you have the best provider and doctor beside you, nothing can stop you from healing with your condition. It would also be best to see and examine the clinic that will be with you through this journey.
You can always contact your trusted provider. It’s all up to you. Set an appointment with them at your earliest convenience, and discuss some factors you encounter. Evaluation and assessment may take place, but this will help you move a long way to go.
Good luck on your journey, and may you find answers to healing your disorder.