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Sleep Apnea - Sleepapnea Tips

 

What Is Sleep Apnea?

Sleep apnea is a common sleep disorder in which you have one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths while you sleep.

Breathing pauses can last anywhere from a few seconds to minutes. They often happen 5 to 30 times or more an hour. Typically, normal breathing then starts again, sometimes with a loud snort or choking sound.

Sleep apnea usually is a chronic (ongoing) condition that disrupts your sleep 3 or more nights each week. You often move out of deep sleep and into light sleep when your breathing pauses or becomes shallow.

This results in poor quality of sleep that makes you tired during the day. Sleepapnea is one of the leading causes of excessive daytime sleepiness.

Overview
Sleep apnea often goes undiagnosed. Doctors usually can't detect the condition during routine office visits. Also, there are no blood tests to help diagnose it.

Most people who have sleep apnea don't know they have it because it only occurs during sleep. A family member and/or bed partner may be the first to notice the signs of sleep apnea.

The most common type of sleep apnea is called obstructive sleep apnea. This most often means that the airway has collapsed or is blocked during sleep. The blockage may cause shallow breathing or breathing pauses.

When you try to breathe, any air that squeezes past the blockage can cause loud snoring. Nurse's Best Stop Snoring Tips Will Help You Quit Snoring Naturally Now!  Obstructive sleep apnea happens more often in people who are overweight, but it can affect anyone.

Central sleep apnea is a less common type of sleep apnea. It happens when the area of your brain that controls your breathing doesn't send the correct signals to your breathing muscles. You make no effort to breathe for brief periods.

Central sleep apnea often occurs with obstructive sleep apnea, but it can occur alone. Snoring doesn't typically happen with central sleep apnea.

This article  focuses on obstructive sleep apnea.

If sleep apnea goes untreated it can:

Increase the risk for high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, obesity, and diabetes
Increase the risk for or worsen heart failure
Make irregular heartbeats more likely
Increase the chance of having work-related or driving accidents
Lifestyle changes, mouthpieces, surgery, and/or breathing devices can successfully treat sleep apnea in many people.

Make sure to get treatment if you know you have sleep apnea. It can save your life. If you suspect you have it, make sure to have a family member check on you while you're sleeping. Perhaps even sleeping in another room at night where it would be easier to check on you.

 

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Sleep Disorder

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