Sleep apnea is a widespread sleep disorder that is characterized by interruptions of breath during sleep. These interruptions are caused by short blocking of a patient’s upper airway. The blockage occurs due to extensive relaxing of the throat tissues.
1. Symptoms
Sleep apnea can occur without an individual being conscious of the occurrences. The main indication of this disorder is general fatigue and tiredness, which are caused by the sleep interruptions. Furthermore, individuals suffering from sleep apnea spend insufficient times in deeper sleep stages. As a consequence, they are normally very irritable, moody and have an enhanced likelihood of having accidents.
2. Risk factors
Some of the risk factors associated with this sleep disorder include being overweight and having enlarged tonsils. This is mostly because the presence of additional fat tissue near the neck makes keeping the airways open harder. Researchers have also discovered that sleep apnea is twice as prevalent in men as compared to women.
3. Diagnosis
This condition is diagnosed using an overnight examination called a sleep study or polysomnogram. Clinical symptoms like fatigue and too much daytime sleepiness are also evaluated. Once the disorder has been identified, the doctor can then recommend the best treatment option.
4. Treatment
Treating sleep apnea involves addressing various contributing factors and it usually begins with extensive behavioral therapy. Sometimes a simple lifestyle change where the patient sleeps on one side is sufficient for dealing with this problem. Another one is avoiding the use of sleeping pills and alcohol since they relax the throat muscles and thus contributes to the collapsing of the airways at night.
Individuals with sleep apnea are advised to lose weight so as to lower the total amount of fat and tissue that may block the airway. A healthy lifestyle comprising of quitting smoking, eating right and exercising may help ease the condition as well.