FAQ

FAQ

Sleep apnea, put simply, is a partial or complete stopping of breath during sleep. This causes the body to strain harder for oxygen, and makes the brain send signals that jerk your body awake to resume proper breathing.

It can be caused by over relaxation of the throat muscles which blocks the upper airway and prevents air from entering the lungs. It can also be caused by faulty signalling by the brain which causes intermittent pauses in breath.

OSA is a common sleep disorder that causes involuntary cessation of breathing during sleep. It is caused by intermittent relaxation of the throat muscles, which block the airway while a person is sleeping. This results in shallow breath and even a brief stoppage of breathing while asleep. The most common characteristic of obstructive sleep apnea is snoring. As the air gets squeezed through the narrow airway, it makes the snoring noise that you hear.

 

Obstructive sleep apnea can cause progressive asphyxia which increases breathing effort and forces a person to awaken from sleep. Since the upper airway is obstructed, the diaphragm and chest muscles must make an extra effort to open the blocked path and force-fill the lungs with air. However, it affects the amount of oxygen reaching the vital organs of the body and hence the brain raises an alarm signal. This causes the body to briefly wake up, re-open the airflow, and the breathing resumes with a loud snort or jerk..

In Central sleep apnea, breathing repeatedly stops and starts due to improper signaling from the brain. Although the muscles that control breathing do not over-relax or obstruct the air path, they do not get appropriate signals from the brain and as a result breathing is disrupted.

Central sleep apnea may be caused due to medical conditions that affect the brain stem, stroke, and cardiac arrests. It is characterized by Cheyne-Stokes respiration (CSR) where levels of carbon dioxide increase due to stoppage of breath. It can even occur if a person sleeps at a high altitude or is administered narcotic drugs such as morphine, oxycodone, or codeine.

The most common telltale sign of obstructive sleep apnea is loud snoring—loud enough to disturb the sleep of the patient as well as others around, even across the walls. That said, not everyone who snores suffers from obstructive sleep apnea.

The other common signs and symptoms that can indicate obstructive sleep apnea include:

  • Excessive drowsiness during the day

  • Waking up gasping or choking

  • Chronic fatigue

  • Dry mouth or a sore throat on waking up

  • Morning headache

  • Lack of concentration

  • Mood swings

  • Depression

  • High blood pressure 

  • Forgetfulness

  • Swelling in the legs

Sleep apnea side effects can disrupt your daily life because of the impact it has on your overall health and productivity. If left untreated, sleep apnea can lead to:

  • Low energy and reduced productivity at work

  • Irritability, anxiety and mood swings

  • Diabetes, due to inability to regulate insulin

  • Hypertension, as the heart exerts more to pump oxygen through the body at night

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease that messes up the way your system absorbs sugar or glucose. So a type 2 diabetes patient’s body either resists the effects of insulin or doesn’t produce adequate insulin to maintain a balanced level of glucose in the body.

Sleep apnea and diabetes are related because it makes it more difficult for you to manage your diabetes. It tends to incite a state of severe insulin resistance. As a result, this can lead to compensatory hyperinsulinemia, and increase the requirement for higher doses of exogenous insulin. Prevalence of this condition can worsen or even lead to the development of type-2 diabetes in sleep apnea patients.

Hypertension occurs in close correlation to Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). Studies find that almost 50% of patients with hypertension also suffer from OSA. This correlation is greater in cases of people with resistant hypertension – people who have tried a variety of treatments to control their blood pressure but have been unsuccessful.