Having a good night’s sleep is enough for some people to function correctly the next day. With the adequate number of hours achieved, it will make you feel recharged, energetic, and you also become more focused. It can be challenging for many people to get at least eight hours of sleep, but other people are afraid that their good night’s sleep might turn into something more of a nightmare. Uncontrolled Sleep apnea affects many people worldwide, with around three to seven percent of men and two to five percent of American women suffering from it. Over 100 million people suffer from having sleep apnea worldwide, and people need to pay attention to it even more. If left undetected, sleep apnea can cause untimely deaths and other serious complications.
This article will tell you everything you must know about not controlling sleep apnea and what happens when uncontrolled sleep apnea strikes someone who already has it.
Sleep Apnea for Starters
For those who have zero ideas what sleep apnea is, it is a potentially fatal sleep disorder. When someone has sleep apnea, the breathing repeatedly stops and starts while you are sleeping. So, if you snore loudly and you still feel tired even if you had a whole night’s sleep, you might have sleep apnea without realizing it.
Some people can mistake these symptoms as something extremely exhausted people can actually experience since feeling tired can signify that you do not have enough rest. That is why sleep apnea is not realized until an expert diagnoses it to you.
There are three types of sleep apnea: the obstructive sleep apnea, or the most common one when throat muscles tend to relax, the central sleep apnea, in which the brain does not send proper signals to your muscles controlling your breathing while you sleep, and the complex sleep apnea syndrome, which happens when someone has both the central sleep apnea and the obstructive sleep apnea.
Signs and Symptoms of Sleep Apnea
The symptoms of obstructive and central sleep apneas tend to overlap, so it makes it difficult to determine what kind of apnea someone actually has. Here are the most common symptoms as documented by doctors and experts:
- Gasping for air while sleeping
- Loud snoring
- Waking up with a dry mouth
- Episodes when you stop breathing, and the people around you can notice it
- Insomnia
- Excessive sleepiness during the daytime
- Irritability
- Morning headaches
Getting examined by an expert is very important to diagnose sleep apnea earlier on. However, it is essential to remember that not everyone who snores has sleep apnea. Not everyone who has sleep apnea snores a lot. Do not waste your time and get yourself diagnosed by a specialist if you feel like you have one.
Risks and Dangers of Sleep Apnea
There are several risks and dangers to sleep apnea if left untreated or undetected. Knowing you have sleep apnea is very important because this would prevent complications from happening to you. Here are some of the possible risks and dangers of having undetected and uncontrolled sleep apnea.
Heart Diseases
People diagnosed with sleep apnea have more chances of having heart attacks than those who don’t. This is because of low oxygen, as sleep apnea disrupts your body’s usual flow of oxygen. When you have insufficient oxygen in your body, chances are your brain will find it hard to control your blood flow, especially in your arteries and the brain itself.
Diabetes
It is observed that 80% of people who have sleep apnea are also diabetic. The reason behind this is obesity, as it raises someone’s risk for both sleep apnea and diabetes. If you do not get enough sleep, your body’s use of insulin gets adversely affected, causing you to have diabetes.
Weight Gain
Fatty deposits in your neck can actually block your breathing at night when you are overweight. Sleep apnea also makes your body release more ghrelin, a hormone making you crave more sweets and carbohydrates. If you are always tired, the food you eat will not be turned to energy effectively, thus gaining more weight. Losing weight is essential as it helps you recover from sleep apnea.
High Blood Pressure
Those already diagnosed with high blood pressure can have worse conditions if they also have sleep apnea. Your body gets very stressed if you wake up often during the night. This makes your hormone systems run past the limit, boosting your blood pressure levels in the process. Oxygen levels in the blood also drop when you cannot breathe properly, further increasing the problem.
Treatment
Treating sleep apnea is very important as it can have serious long-term consequences to your health. However, it is essential to remember that whether or not someone needs treatment for sleep apnea depends entirely on the severity of the case.
For example, your doctor might recommend treating mild sleep apnea if you have risk factors for heart disease. Also, the doctor may insist that you get treatment if you are diagnosed to have a severe case of sleep apnea, even if you do not feel sleepy at all times.
Doctors use a breathing device called CPAP to treat sleep apnea. CPAP stands for continuous positive airway pressure machine, which pipes humidified air through the nose, creating air pressure to keep the patient’s throat open while fast asleep. This machine prevents pauses in breathing. It is the first-line treatment and is also very effective.
Aside from CPAP, there are also other treatment procedures doctors use to treat sleep apnea. The Denta Spa offers consultation for sleep apnea if you are interested in knowing more about the different methods used to effectively treat sleep apnea.
Our Takeaway
Sleep apnea can be potentially dangerous if left untreated or even undetected. The thought of your breath-stopping all of a sudden while you were sleeping, with a possibility that you might not breathe anymore after this, can be very terrifying. Fortunately for us, treatments are available to address the problem, and they are also highly effective. Uncontrolled Sleep apnea can trigger other complications if left untreated, such as heart problems, diabetes, and other illnesses.
The Dental Spa wants every client to have well-rounded overall health, from your body to your teeth to your face. They do not only offer top-notch dental services, but they also provide help and treatment for sleep apnea. They also offer various cosmetic treatments and procedures targeting youthful appearance and rejuvenated skin conditions to everyone. At The Dental Spa, your overall health is their top priority, from the moment you wake up to the moment you hit the sheets.