Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea is the more common form and around 12 million people have this serious sleep disorder in the United States.



Although obstructive sleep apnea can occur to anyone, it is more common in older adults, males and overweight population.

Signs and symptoms

Snoring is the most common symptom of obstructive sleep apnea and besides that other signs and symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea include hypersomnia especially during the day time, insomnia (difficulty in sleeping at night), waking up with a dry mouth or sore throat, headache in the morning, breathing cessations in sleep that is obvious and shortness of breath with abrupt awakenings.

Causes

Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when the muscles that support the soft tissues in the mouth relaxes.



These muscles give support to the soft palate, inner portion of the tongue, uvula (triangular tissue hanging from soft palate) and the tonsils. As a result when you breathe in the relaxed muscles causes the airway to get narrow or closed which cuts off the breathing momentarily.



This causes low levels of oxygen in the blood and triggers the brain (which perceives this act as inability to breath) to briefly awake you from sleep to reopen your airways. This period of awakening is so short that you won’t even tend to remember next morning.



In fact many people are under the impression that they have a sound sleep in the night. This brief awakening tends to correct the breathing pattern with one or two deep breaths, however this is rare and this pattern can repeat at least 20-30 times each hour all night giving a choking, gasping or snorting sound.



This act disturbs the normal restful sleeping pattern and thus you may tend to sleep during the working hours next day or feel fatigue.

Risk factors

Some of the risk factors for obstructive sleep apnea include being overweight, increased neck circumference, hypertension, diabetes, being a male, being older, narrowed air passage, nasal congestion, menopause, family history, smoking and use of sedatives, alcohol or tranquilizers. 

Make sure to observe all the signs and symptoms and explain them to your specialist in detail. Many people may not experience snoring even if they have obstructive sleep apnea or many a times some experience loud snoring punctured by period of silence.



Explain all details to help your specialist diagnose they type of sleep apnea correctly.  Treatment of obstructive sleep apnea would include either a surgical procedure to remove the tissue from mouth, throat or nose or using a device to keep the airway open.