What is Sleep Apnea and How is it Diagnosed?

Sleep apnea is also commonly known as sleep apnoea. This is a sleeping disorder.

Sleep apnea results in the person affected with pauses in breathing while sleeping. Or, it results in poor breathing while asleep.

The pauses in the breathing are called apnea. This can occur 5 to 30 times in one hour period. The pauses in breathing can take anything from a couple of seconds to a few minutes. The poor breathing is called hypopnoea. There are three kinds of sleep apnea.

They are called:

– Central sleep apnea

– Obstructive sleep apnea

– Mixed or complex sleep apnea

Mixed sleep apnea is a mixture of obstructive and central sleep apnea. The most predominant type is the obstructive sleep apnea constituting 84% of cases, and then the second most common one is the mixed sleep apnea constituting 15% of cases. Central sleep apnea only constitutes 4% of all of the cases.

Central sleep apnea results in the patient not having enough respiratory effort. Obstructive sleep apnea is caused by an obstruction to the breathing airflow, as the name indicates. In this case there is usually sufficient respiratory effort; it is the obstruction that is causing the problem. In these cases the patient will often snore while sleeping. The obstruction is often caused by the natural relaxation of the person’s muscles during sleep. The walls of the throat are made of soft tissue which can collapse while the person is asleep. This is most common amongst people who are obese (because of the low muscle tone). Other vulnerable people include senior citizens and people who smoke.

People who suffer from sleep apnea are often not aware that they have the sleeping disorder. They do not realise that they have difficulty in breathing, even when they have woken up. The disorder is most commonly noticed by other people who have observed the person while he is asleep. Or, the person may suspect that they have the problem because of the results on the body during waking time.

Sometimes the person may experience the symptoms for many years without them being aware of the disorder. Eventually the person becomes used to the exhaustion, sleepiness and fatigue that they feel during waking hours.

Symptoms:

– Most people who suffer from sleep apnea experience fatigue and sleepiness during the daytime. This may be overwhelming for some.

– People are less alert and as a result have slow reaction times.

– Patients also experience problems with their vision.

– Restless sleep

The condition affects children and adults. In order to diagnose whether a person has sleep apnea or not he/she will have to receive an overnight diagnostic sleep test. The test is called polysomnogram. It is called a ‘sleep study’ in layman’s terms.

The test may include standard test batteries which are used in order to determine the regions of the brain that are impacted by the condition.

Three different areas of the brain can be affected. These include the regions that are responsible for memory, the region concerning attention and processing information, and the region concerning the planning and implementation of tasks.

There is another diagnostic test which can be performed in the home of the patient. This is called Oximetry. It is also performed over night.

In some cases people become depressed because of the impact of sleep apnea on their daily functioning.

Because there are many things that could cause the symptoms and the effects many people never think that they may be suffering from sleep apnea. Sometimes the symptoms are wrongly diagnosed, other times the patient never seeks assistance for their problem.

Most treatments include changes in lifestyle or simple elevation of the upper body during sleep.

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