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Sleep apnea

Sleep apnea is a serious sleep problem. If you have it, you stop breathing for more than 10 seconds at a time many times while you sleep. Sleep apnea affects between two and 10 per cent of people. It is more common in men than in women. It is also more common in people who are overweight, but there are many people with normal weight who have sleep apnea.

How does it occur?

Drawing 1: During normal sleep, throat muscles relax.

Drawing 2: If there is too little room inside your throat, or too much tissue pressing on the outside of your throat, your airway can become blocked. This blockage stops the movement of air and the amount of oxygen in your blood drops.

Drawing 3: The drop in oxygen causes the brain to send a signal for you to wake up so you can open the airway in your throat and start breathing again. If you have sleep apnea, this cycle may repeat as often as 50 or more times an hour. Generally, you will not remember waking up, but the many arousals will make you sleepy the next day.

Drawing 4: The most common treatment is the use of a machine that sends pressurized air into your nose and throat at night. This treatment is called continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). If you have pressure on your throat because of excess fatty tissue in your throat, your health care provider may suggest a weight-loss program.

Risk factors

Being overweight may cause a narrowing of your airway. Other risk factors for sleep apnea are:

• Tobacco smoking
• Drinking a lot of alcohol, consuming other sedatives, narcotics
• Lung disease, or neurologic disease
• An abnormal sleep pattern because of an irregular work schedule or rotating shift work
• Nasal congestion
• Some people inherit a tendency to have sleep apnea

What are the symptoms?

If you have sleep apnea, your body gets less oxygen when you sleep and you don't sleep well. Common symptoms of sleep apnea are:

• Loud snoring interrupted with pauses in breathing, followed by loud gasps
• Not feeling rested when you wake up in the morning
• Morning headaches
• Tiredness or sleepiness during the day
• Trouble concentrating
• Anxiety, irritability, or depression
• A strong desire to take afternoon naps
• Sleepiness while driving

Many people who snore do not have sleep apnea, but nearly everyone who has sleep apnea snores. If you snore and feel you do not usually get a good night's rest, you should ask your health-care provider if you might have sleep apnea.

Can I reduce my risk?

Proper weight control, exercise (according to your health-care provider's recommendations), good sleeping habits, not smoking, and avoiding excessive alcohol use will help you have general good health and may help prevent sleep apnea.

Source: Health Links - Info Santé Manitoba 2008

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