Snoring
Snoring will not wake the snorer up but it usually disturbs the one who sleeps beside the snorer and wake up from sleep. Snoring during sleep at night is frequent occurrence and getting common. People who snores usually does not suffer from any medical condition.
Snoring is not life threatening, most of it. However, serious or harsh snoring can prompt us to more serious sleeping disorders. The good thing is that people who suffer from snoring can reduce the risk of getting serious disease when they are snoring and sleep disorders can be diagnosed and treatable.
Nowadays, sleep apnea, snoring and other sleeping disorders can be cured using different treatments.
Sleep
When you are sleeping, your body will relax the nerves and muscles to refresh them to continue the biological processes inside your body. This whole process similar to recharging the battery of your body, it supplies the physical and emotional renewal necessary for you. Sleep is an active and essential organized process for your life.
Individuals may need different amounts of necessary sleep and the sleeps must be free from any disturbance. The sleep pattern relies on our circadian rhythm and this rhythm requires us to sleep for specific period of time regularly. Your body clock keep you on regular 24-hour cycles and decides the quality and quantity of our sleep.
Some people can sleep less than 8 hours (which is the best for most people from research) as they are able to achieve highly effective sleep after they have conditioned their brain.
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Individuals that have insufficient sleep might suffer from physical and mental disorders. 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep is needed for human being as it is the critical to our survival. Sleep disorders should be diagnosed and get quick medical attention before they become fatal.
Sleep Apnea
Apnea is from Greek;’Ap’ – “without” and ‘nea’ – “breath”. Sleep apnea means ‘cessation of breath’ and may occur twenty to sixty times within each hour. If you are unable to breathe properly at night and wake up gasping for breath, you may have sleep apnea. It is diagnosed by monitoring your breathing as you sleep.
The presence of the cessation of breathing for more than 10 seconds occurring more than a few times during sleep is indicative of sleep apnea. Sleep apnea consists of apnoeic episode from 10 to 90 seconds where you stop breathing.
You might experience many episodes in every hour at night, but most of the people do not know it is a problem and ignore it as well as don’t seek for a treatment.
There are different types of Sleep Apnea:
1.Central Sleep Apnea (CSA) 2. Mixed Sleep Apnea 3. Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Obstructive Sleep Apnea, is the common sleep apnea that most individuals suffer from. It usually occurs when your airway collapse and your throat muscles or fat tissue in the throat, uvula(the hanging tissue at the back of your throat), tonsils and tongue block your airway. You wake up from sleep due to your brain gets the signals that your breathing is blocked.
Excessive daytime sleepiness and even narcolepsy (sudden lapse of consciousness) may be caused by Obstructive sleep apnea, which is very dangerous. The risk of getting stroke, heart attack and other cardiovascular problem will be increased due to the continual deprivation of oxygen during episode.
The blockage or obstructions that affects Obstructive sleep apnea could be caused by large tonsils (particularly in children) and adenoids, overweightness, weak muscles or irregular physical structure (larger tongue or uvula or narrow airways, etc).
Besides that, asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), allergies, excessive stress and constricted sleeping position may also contribute to obstructive sleep apnea.
Central Sleep Apnea (CSA) is less common if compared to the rest. The symptoms are quite similar to obstructive sleep apnea, however there are extra symptoms i.e. body weakness, numbness of body parts, changes in your voice and difficulty in swallowing. Central Sleep Apnea (CSA) occurs when the breathing muscles stop temporarily when communication with your brain is disrupted.
Central sleep apnea have symptoms that similar to obstructive sleep apnea such as lack of attentiveness, heart diseases, high blood pressure, irritability and excessive daytime sleepiness. You will also suffer from an after-effect called “Ondine’s curse” which causes you continue having the difficulty to breath easily when you are asleep.
Sufferer of central sleep apnea that lives at above the sea level or having heart attacks or brain injuries might even suffer apnoeic episode while they are wide-awake.
There are many causes of Central Sleep apneabehind the occurrence of sleep apnea. The main causes could be like strokes, neurodegenerative diseases, surgical complications, neurological disorders or even radiotherapy. There are also causes like:
1. Abnormal facial structure 2. The throat muscles and tongue relax a lot more than normal when you are asleep. 3. Uvula, fleshy tissue at the back of your throat also relaxes during your sleep. 4. Large tonsils and adenoids obstruct free flow of air through the nose and throat. 5. Weight gain 6. Age 7. Alcohol and drugs relax muscles of your breathing system 8. Smoking 9. Your genes 10. Nasal congestion due to allergies 11. Different diseases of thyroid glands like hypothyroidism, or neuromuscular diseases like acromegaly, or Down’s syndrome, Marfan’s syndrome, post-polio syndrome
Mixed Sleep Apnea contains both of central and obstructive sleep apnea. The occurrence of mixed sleep apnea due to both obstruction of your airways and improper functioning of brain.
Regular snorers inhale lot of air while snoring and it causes the inner soft tissue in your throat to lengthen. Overtime, this stretching may lead to obstruction of air movement.
The balance of oxygen will be affected when you unable to inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide due to breathing difficulty at night. In that condition, your brain will have to awaken you up in order to restart your breathing system.
When you awaken, activation of your throat and tongue muscles takes place enlarging your airway. Such awakening is necessary to save your life. However, your sleep is disturbed and you feel drowsy the whole day through.
Sleep apnea is a condition which has bad influence to your daily lifestyle. It needs to be diagnosed and treated, the sooner the better. Read a guide on how to overcome the sleep apnea and free from sleepiness. Check here for free reprint licence: Sleep Apnea- What Are The Types And Causes?.