Sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder in which a person’s breathing pauses repeatedly during sleep. When this happens, the brain recognizes it as a danger signal to wake up, but it cannot process the urgency, so instead, it continues to go on with the sleep and thus fails to achieve deep, restful sleep.
People with sleep apnea have difficulty with the most important phase of the sleep cycle – REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. That’s why people who suffer from this condition find it difficult to get a good night’s sleep, and they experience daytime drowsiness.
Symptoms of sleep apnea include: snoring, waking up suddenly, gasping for air, fatigue during the day, difficulty breathing, headache, and dry mouth. You may also experience feeling that you cannot move or that your chest is rising and falling rapidly during sleep, as well as difficulty in falling asleep or staying asleep.
For men, one out of ten individuals is affected by this condition while for women, the percentage is one in four.
Millions of people suffer from symptoms of sleep apnea but many of them do not know about it. Others may be suffering from other sleep disorders such as insomnia or excessive snoring. People who have been through surgery to remove the tonsils or adenoids frequently report difficulties sleeping, because of the inability to clear the throat properly.
Sleep apnea affects males more than females and is also more common in the elderly than in younger ones. It is more prevalent in adults aged 40 and over than in those under 40. It is one of the most common sleep disorders, affecting one out of ten people, according to recent statistics.
One of the most common types of treatment for sleep apnea is a continuous positive airway pressure machine (CPAP), which delivers an air supply to the throat while you sleep. This causes the airways to relax, enabling them to clear and increase the amount of airflow. Because of this, the brain is able to fully relax, which allows for deep, restful sleep. However, this is the only long-term solution to help people suffering from sleep apnea.
Medications may also be used to treat sleep apnea, such as Albuterol, which helps relieve snoring, and Provigil, which improves the body’s ability to regulate the amount of sleep and wakefulness. Other prescription drugs may also be given to alleviate the symptoms of sleep apnea, especially the pain caused by the condition.
Medications are usually prescribed to help people with sleep apnea cope with the discomfort brought about by the condition. The medicines affect the central nervous system and help to prevent muscle spasms, but they also cause side effects such as drowsiness, irritability, and depression.
Sometimes a person may find that their sleep apnea is caused by a heart condition that does not respond well to anti-depressants or to certain heart medicines. In such cases, the patients are sometimes prescribed drugs that work to reduce the amount of blood that is being pumped to the heart. Also, drugs can be prescribed to help relax the muscles and increase oxygen flow to the brain during sleep.
For some patients, certain medicines can cause a rare condition called vasopressor pulmonary hypertension. This is a dangerous condition in which the patient’s blood pressure is too high when they are asleep, and it can result in heart failure and even death.
There are medications that can be taken to stop the process of narrowing of the airways. With the surgery, the problem is that the airways may be left too wide open. Thus, the most commonly prescribed drugs are the beta2 agonists, which are the ones that actually reduce the flow of air into the respiratory tract during sleep.
While there are many reasons for why people suffer from this condition, the most common is because they lack proper sleep habits. Often, they would be cutting down on their sleep time and going to bed at a very late hour, resulting in fatigue during the day and difficulty in sleeping. Other reasons could be the sleep environment they have, such as noisy places and even the pillows they are using.
