What is Sleep Apnea and How to Recognize It
Apnea is a Greek word that literally means “without breathe”. In sleep apnea, this is what exactly occurs during the rest. Discovering what sleep apnea really means can certainly help a patient to learn if they have this kind of sleeping disorder as early as possible.
Learn the Types of Sleep Apnea and How They Occur
Sleep apnea has three types. First is what we call obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) which is the most common among the three. There’s an estimate of more than 12 million Americans have this type of sleep apnea. More than half of them are overweight and most snore heavily according to NHLBI. It occurs when the muscle in the throat relax as a result the breathing will stop because of the tightening of the airway. Then the brain sends signal to wake us up and the breathing process begins again. Lots of people with obstructive sleep apnea are not even aware that they are being interrupted in sleeping at night.
The second type is the central sleep apnea. It is less common and usually takes place because our brain fail to send proper signals to the muscle that control breathing although the airway is unblock that that person experiencing this disorder wakes up at night. The last one is mixed sleep apnea which is the combination of the two as the name implies.
Every time a person with sleep apnea stops breathing, the oxygen in our brain and body decreases causing additional complications like problem within the cardiovascular system. According to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute website, “untreated sleep apnea can increase the chance of having high blood pressure and even a heart attack or stroke. Untreated sleep apnea can also increase the risk of diabetes and the risk for work-related accidents and driving accidents.
We should keep in mind that sleep apnea can strike anyone and disregarding of the age. But it occurs in more men than women and most likely to happen as we age.
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