Grow Youthful: How to Slow Your Aging and Enjoy Extraordinary Health
Grow Youthful: How to Slow Your Aging and Enjoy Extraordinary Health

Sleep apnoea (apnea)

What is sleep apnea?

Causes of sleep apnea

Symptoms of sleep apnea

Consequences of sleep apnea

Remedies for sleep apnea

References

What is sleep apnea?

While sleeping, the muscles in the back of the throat fail to keep the airway open. During the night, the breathing gets cut off multiple times, and there may be periods of low or insufficient breathing. A pause in breathing is called apnoea or apnea, and a low breathing event is known as a hypopnea. An apnea can last for a few seconds to a couple of minutes, and can occur up to 30 times per hour in the worst cases.

Sleep apnoea can cause the sufferer to wake up many times during the night, upsetting the ability to get deep sleep. Instead, sleep is fragmented and not particularly restful, and the blood is not properly oxygenated.

Around 5-7% of the total population suffer from sleep apnea. It affects mostly overweight adults, but children can also be affected. By the age of 50, about 9% of women and 24% of men are affected to some extent, usually undiagnosed and untreated.

People with sleep apnea are rarely aware of their difficulty breathing, even upon awakening. Instead, they may suffer symptoms for years or even decades before it is diagnosed. It usually comes to light when someone else sees what is happening while the sufferer is sleeping, or when the daytime sleepiness and fatigue associated with significant levels of sleep disturbance become intolerable.

Causes of sleep apnea

Symptoms of sleep apnea

Consequences of sleep apnea

Remedies for sleep apnea

References

1. Puhan MA, Suarez A, Lo Cascio C, Zahn A, Heitz M, Braendli O. Didgeridoo playing as alternative treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome: randomised controlled trial. February 2006. BMJ 332 (7536): 266-70.

2. F. Javier Nieto1, Paul E Peppard, Terry Young, Laurel Finn, Khin Mae Hla, Ramon Farre. Sleep disordered breathing and cancer mortality: results from the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort Study. Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. May 20, 2012.

3. Broussard JL, Ehrmann DA, Van Cauter E, Tasali E, Brady MJ. Impaired insulin signaling in human adipocytes after experimental sleep restriction: a randomized, crossover study. Ann Intern Med. 2012 Oct 16;157(8):549-57. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-157-8-201210160-00005.