What is Sleep Apnea?

Everybody experiences some type of sleeping disorder at some point in life, but they often go unnoticed. People do not have enough knowledge about sleeping disorders, and thus, they ignore the symptoms as well. So, what is sleep apnea? Sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder in which a person experiences interruptions in breathing during sleep. While sleeping, people experience multiple extended pauses in breathing. This, in turn, leads to poor quality of sleep and affects the oxygen supply to the body. Sleep apnea can lead to potentially serious health consequences. Hence, everyone needs to be aware of what sleep is and understand its symptoms, causes, and types.

What Are the Types of Sleep Apnea?

There are three types of sleep apnea:

• Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA): OSA is the most common type of sleep apnea. It occurs when the muscles in the throat irregularly relax and block the airway during sleep. This results in temporary lapses in breathing. A noticeable sign of OSA is snoring.

• Central Sleep Apnea (CSA): CSA is less common than OSA. It occurs when the brain fails to send proper signals to the muscles that control breathing. This leads to slower and shallower breathing. It usually happens because of heart failure or stroke.

• Mixed Sleep Apnea: Mixed Sleep Apnea is a combination of both OSA and CSA. It begins as a Central Apnea and ends as an Obstructive Apnea.

What are the

Symptoms of Sleep Apnea

?

There are some common symptoms across all the different types of apnea:

• Morning headaches
• Irritability
• Lack of focus
• Disrupted breathing in which a person’s breathing can even stop for up to a minute at a time
• Excessive daytime sleepiness
• Restlessness or insomnia
• Heartburn
• Fatigue

Many of these symptoms result from low oxygen levels and sleep deprivation that occurs as a result of interruptions in breathing.

Some of the symptoms vary across all three different types of sleep apnea. Some additional symptoms related to OSA are as follows:

• Snoring, especially that is loud and involves gasping, choking, or snorting and can cause a person to wake up briefly
• Sore throat or dry mouth in the morning
• Frequent urination at night (nocturia)

The most frequent symptom of OSA is Chronic snoring, but that does not infer that everyone who snores has sleep apnea. But in people with CSA, snoring is not a common symptom. People with sleep apnea are not usually aware of their problems and symptoms. Thus, they have to rely on other people to find their problems out.

What Causes Sleep Apnea?

Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when a person’s airways get blocked during sleep. Several factors can increase the risk of blockage and OSA:

• Obesity – Being obese is the leading cause of OSA and can be a potential risk factor in up to 60% of cases. Obesity contributes to the anatomical narrowing of the airways, and studies show that a 10% weight gain can represent a six-fold increase in OSA risk.
• Use of sedatives, including alcohol – Sedatives and alcohol can cause tissue in the throat to relax and obstruct the airways.
• Family history – If one or more close relatives have OSA, then people are more likely to develop OSA themselves.
• Cigarette smoking – Chain smokers have a higher risk of developing OSA than people who do not smoke.
• Nasal congestion – Congestion can reduce the ability to breathe and may cause people to experience OSA.
• Hormone abnormalities – Hormonal conditions like hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) and acromegaly (excess growth hormone) lead to swelling of tissues near the airway and may increase the risk of OSA.

In CSA, breathing is affected because the brain fails to send signals to the respiratory muscles. It is typically related to a medical condition. Examples- stroke, brain infection, heart failure, and in rare cases, a tumour in the brain can cause damage to the brain stem. CSA can also arise if a person is at a high altitude.

What Are the Health Risks of Sleep Apnea?

Sleep apnea can cause sleep deprivation because of the frequent interruptions at night and shallow sleep overall. Inadequate sleep can lead to serious health consequences which can affect individuals physically, emotionally, and mentally. This is why sleep apnea is tied to severe health problems.

Untreated sleep apnea affects the balance of oxygen in the body. Thus, it raises the danger of cardiovascular diseases, including high blood pressure, heart failure, heart attack, and stroke.