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One of the most common symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea is snoring. Some people are aware of it. Some people are not, not everybody has sleep. Apnea has snoring, but most people do. It means there's some resistance between their nose and the air. And that makes the sound of snoring. And if the obstruction is beyond just the nose and further down in the airway, then we call it obstructive sleep apnea. Often people with obstructive sleep apnea are tired. They don't get good sleep at night. So they're sleepy during the day and during their night's sleep, they awaken multiple times. Sometimes they don't know why they're awakening, but oftentimes they're awakening literally with a resuscitative snort.
One of the most common symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea is snoring. Some people are aware of it. Some people are not, not everybody has sleep. Apnea has snoring, but most people do. It means there's some resistance between their nose and the air. And that makes the sound of snoring. And if the obstruction is beyond just the nose and further down in the airway, then we call it obstructive sleep apnea. Often people with obstructive sleep apnea are tired. They don't get good sleep at night. So they're sleepy during the day and during their night's sleep, they awaken multiple times. Sometimes they don't know why they're awakening, but oftentimes they're awakening literally with a resuscitative snort.
Obstructive sleep apnea is a common sleep disorder in which people have difficulty breathing while they're sleeping at night.
Obstructive sleep apnea is diagnosed a couple of different ways. Sometimes it's diagnosed by a bed partner who's observed snoring and stopping breathing at night, but that's not the official diagnosis. It can be officially diagnosed two other ways. And the first is that we do a home sleep apnea study, which is generally a small device worn in your own bed in your own home for roughly one night. And that allows us to see breathing oxygen values, heart rate, and also any respiratory effort issues. If somebody needs to breathe really hard and struggles to get that breath, they may have sleep apnea. A more formal way to diagnose obstructive sleep apnea is in a sleep lab. Sometimes they're independent. Sometimes they're associated with hospitals, but during an in-lab polysomnogram we often find sleep apnea. We look at the brain waves within the EEG and the heart rate and rhythm with an EKG. Also look at muscle activity like grinding and kicking of the legs, but obstructive sleep apnea is actually the best information we get from a polysomnogram or formal sleep study, where we look at belts across the chest and abdomen and catheters and the nose that allow us to get back flow of air and also oxygen delivered to the body through the pulse oximetry overnight.
Everybody is at risk for obstructive sleep apnea. Babies can get it small children and even adults, especially as we get older, we know that people with extra weight, two thirds of sleep apnea is associated with obesity. In one third of people are thin and some people have nasal anatomy or oral anatomy, which they've inherited from their parents that predispose them, certain medications like muscle relaxants and narcotics can make sleep apnea more likely.
Obstructive sleep Apnea is very serious. It can cause 19 different medical problems, but the biggest thing is fatigue, not feeling restored from your night's sleep. So people are at risk for not living the healthiest lives they can and falling asleep at inappropriate times, like behind the wheel of a car. What we know is that more car accidents occur in Friday night, independent of alcohol than any other time of the week. Because people are sleep deprived.
Snoring is noisy at night. And it's generally at the level of the nose. Maybe the nose is congested from a cold or allergies. Maybe it's deviated from a break in the past, but snoring itself is definitely annoying for the bed partner, but it may not have significant health risks for the patient. On the other hand, obstructive sleep apnea is a major health risk for everybody who has it, it's associated with 19 different medical issues. And there will be no test at the end of this, but fatigue, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, chronic pain, depression, anxiety, heart arrhythmias, heart attacks, memory problems, strokes frequent nighttime urination, reflux, cancer, motor vehicle accidents, seizures, headaches, insomnia, high red blood cell count of oxygen levels drop while you stop breathing at night and also even erectile dysfunction.
Certified in Sleep Medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine
Certified in Obesity Medicine by the American Board of Obesity Medicine
Certified in Sleep Medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine
Certified in Obesity Medicine by the American Board of Obesity Medicine
Certified in Sleep Medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine
Certified in Obesity Medicine by the American Board of Obesity Medicine
Certified in Sleep Medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine
Certified in Obesity Medicine by the American Board of Obesity Medicine
Certified in Sleep Medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine
Certified in Obesity Medicine by the American Board of Obesity Medicine
Certified in Sleep Medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine
Certified in Obesity Medicine by the American Board of Obesity Medicine