People across the country today suffer from different sleep disorders because of various reasons and conditions. There is snoring, restless leg syndrome and many more sleeping disorders affecting millions of people in today’s world. There are plenty of remedies for all of these conditions but a couple of them must be prescribed by a doctor or sleep specialist.
One of the sleep disorders not mentioned above is sleep apnea. This disorder is extremely serious and causes disruptions in a person’s breathing while they are sleeping. During the night the person with the disorder will awaken almost a hundred times to begin breathing again.
The one catch is that the person will more than likely not remember waking up in the middle of the night. This condition can worsen with age. An apnea is considered a period of 10 or more seconds when a person with the disorder stops breathing.
This disorder causes people that have it to have a night of restless sleep and can make them extremely tired during the day. This can lead to falling asleep at the wheel of a motor vehicle, falling asleep standing up and other dangerous problems because of a tired state.
Sleep apnea most often occurs in people who are overweight but it can occur in people who are thin. People with this condition can and most likely will snore but not all people who snore have this condition. People with this condition usually don’t know they have it until they are tested at a sleep center or their bed partner notices the signs of the condition.
There are two types of sleep apnea. They are obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when the airway to breath is blocked or obstructive.
In central sleep apnea the airway to breath is not blocked or obstructed but the brain does not signal the muscles to breath because of the inconsistency of the respiratory control center. This condition is caused by a stroke, heart failure, kidney failure and other problems.
Sleep apnea can be treated effectively, enabling the person with the disorder to sleep easy and not have trouble breathing during the night. A person with the disorder will be given a CPAP, which is a mask worn at night by the patient.
The mask pumps or forces air through the upper airway to prevent any apneas from occurring during the night. Other treatments are losing weight for overweight patients, sleeping on your side, setting a regular sleep schedule, dental appliances and even surgery can be used to solve this serious problem.
Dental appliances are used to keep the tongue from blocking the person’s airway and keep them open during the night while the patient sleeps. There are dentists around that specialize in treating this serious condition.
The surgical procedures are used for people with a deviated nasal septum, patients that have markedly enlarged tonsils, an overbite and are usually performed after the use of a CPAP has not improved the condition. Most of these surgical procedures can be done as outpatient procedures.