Sleep apnea is a serious health epidemic that is linked to another problem currently gripping the nation: the rising rate of obesity. Obesity and sleep apnea are so tightly connected that it is hard to discuss one without the other. Understanding the connections between obesity and sleep apnea can help you create a path towards treating both of these dangerous problems.
Why Obesity Contributes to Sleep Apnea
As people gain weight, fat is spread throughout their body in a variety of places. While most people have a central fat storage area (such as the stomach, legs, hips, or buttocks), fat is still stored in multiple areas. One of these locations is the throat.
That extra fat around the throat muscles is problematic because it narrows the
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They causes include:
Gender: diagnoses for men are nearly double that of women. Age: people over the age of 65 have an increased risk of sleep apnea. Heart issues: problems like congestive heart failure and fibrillation issues can contribute to sleep apnea. Nasal congestion: colds and allergies often create an excessive level of mucus which can block air passage and increase sleep apnea symptoms. Thick necks: people with naturally thick often develop sleep apnea symptoms, even if they aren't overweight. Smokers: habitual smokers experience throat inflammation and fluid retention that can exasperate existing sleep apnea symptoms.
The Startling Statistics
The statistics surrounding obesity and sleep apnea tell a very scary tale. According to SleepFoundation.Org, 65% of all Americans are either overweight or obese. Dr. Richard Simon, a sleep specialist in Walla Walla, has even linked this epidemic to a lack of sleep, stating that a decrease in exercise, an increase in caloric intake, and a major decline in sleep has thrown the body's natural rhythms out of
The population who are diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) often experience daytime drowsiness and are at risk for ischemic heart disease, arrhythmias, hypertension, and other vascular related problems (Hsu et al., 2007). There are several treatment options for people with OSA, which are weight loss, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), dental appliances, and surgical procedure. This study evaluates patients who have
Thesis: Sleep Apnea is becoming more of a dangerous disease that more people are starting to be diagnosed with. It is extremely important that Sleep Apnea is emphasized so that more people are aware of it.
According to the NIH and the Mayo Clinic, family history and being a male are known risk factors for sleep apnea. My dad was diagnosed several years ago with “severe” sleep apnea and he was prescribed to use CPAP. He has also fought colon and bladder cancer, type 2 diabetes, gout, heart and kidney disease which have been caused or
Obstructive sleep apnea has become an increasingly big problem in the United States. It is also apparent that obesity is also one of the biggest epidemics in our country as well. There is no question that both obesity and having obstructive sleep apnea go hand in hand for several reasons. I will go into some detail as to why these two go hand in hand, how young kids are now having issues with these two things, and what we as a society can do about it.
Sleep is essential to life; it is one of several components, including food and water, which keep the living alive. However, a significant percentage of the human population has considerable difficulty reaching and maintaining Stage IV within their sleeping patterns, the stage that allows the mind and body to fall into a deep and restorative sleep, otherwise known as REM sleep. At the core of this difficulty is a condition known as obstructive sleep apnea, a "serious, potentially life-threatening condition that is far more common than generally understood" (Sleep Apnea). Indeed, obstructive sleep apnea can be very dangerous if it is not properly detected and treated.
Obstructive sleep apnea is a serious, potentially life-threatening condition. It is characterized by repeated cessation of breathing while sleeping, due mostly to complete or partial pharyngeal obstruction. Objectively, it is recognized by a combination of symptoms and laboratory results. These include repetitive apneas and hypopneas, which are accompanied by hypoxia, sleep arousals, and hemodynamic changes.9–12 Moreover, activation of the sympathetic nervous system during respiratory events potentiates vasoconstriction and often triggers increases in blood pressure and heart rate.10,13 Obstructive sleep apnea is also associated with several cardiorespiratory problems (e.g., loud snoring, loud gasps, and daytime breathlessness).14,15
Sleep apnea is a common sleeping disorder where a person has experiences of not breathing during sleep. Over 20 million Americans, mostly overweight men, suffer from sleep apnea. Despite these numbers, sleep apnea is often not treated directly because its symptoms are thought to be those of depression, stress, or just loud snoring. There may be a genetic component to this disorder as it often occurs within families.People with sleep apnea stop breathing for at least 10 seconds at a time; these short stops in breathing can happen up to 400 times every night.
There are several approaches to remedy sleep apnea syndrome, both surgical and non-invasive. In this article, non-invasive forms of treatments will be covered.
Psychology is an immense, widely varied, and diverse field of study. Over the years, the field of psychology has grown, and so have the vast topics the field examines and studies. A few major perspectives of psychology are psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and biological (Cherry, 2016). Of these areas, OSA can fit under the biological perspective. Obstructive Sleep Apnea suitably relates to this category since it is largely a result of our biological, or physical, makeup.
In addition, the person lacks the sleep needed to function properly throughout the day. This may bring about fatigue, accidents at work, car accidents and more. Individuals with high blood pressure may find their condition worsens if they suffer from obstructive sleep apnea, and those with diabetes find they are more at risk of this condition. People who are overweight are more at risk of sleep apnea, and this condition makes it harder to lose the weight. These are only a few of the many dangers associated with this condition, thus treatment needs to be sought in a timely
All groups were age and gender matched. The mean BMI of the IFL group was significantly higher than NFL group with no significant difference between IFL and OSAS group. The PTT Ar in the IFL groups was significantly higher than that found in the NFL group denoting the higher degree of cardiovascular arousal in the IFL group. The highest level of PTT Ar was found in the OSAS group denoting the highest degree of cardiovascular arousal compared with the
In the textbook, “Psychology in Modules”, sleep is defined as “our periodic natural loss of consciousness” (pg.100) (Myers & Dewall, 2015). I am a person that loves to sleep a lot and consider it as a hobby of mine as it is useful in stressful times to restore and gain energy back after a long day depending on the type of situation that occurred. Based upon the sleeping disorders discussed such as insomnia, narcolepsy, etc.…, I never undergone any of them but the common one that I have seen that most people tend to get is sleep apnea. I would wonder how it occurs to others as in my family, both of my parents snore in the middle of their sleep but my siblings and I don’t. There would be times where they would choke in their own saliva and wake up having trouble
Well they were right in more ways than one. The more sleep one gets, the better they will feel about the day ahead and they’ll make better choices throughout the day. “Dr. Donald Hensrud, a nutritionist and preventative medicine expert in the department of endocrinology, diabetes, metabolism and nutrition at the Mayo clinic, said one of the most immediate health dangers for many obese people is sleep apnea” (“Neporent”). Sleep apnea is a condition in which someone gasps or stops breathing for a moment while sleeping.
The first and most researched sleep disorder is sleep apnea. Sleep apnea does not affect children as often as it effects adults, but it is still a rising concern. Sleep apnea occurs in about 2 per cent of children, mainly between the ages of one through eight. But it can also show up in older children and even infants. (Klein). Research says that young blacks are more at risk than young whites. (Fritz p 83). Children with sleep apnea briefly stop breathing many times during the night due to an obstruction in the respiratory tract. Most of the time it is related to enlarged tonsils and adenoids or to obesity. As the child will gasp for there breath during sleep, they awaken for a few moments to regain there normal breathing and then they immediately return back to sleep. Because the child will be awoken by this many times during the night, this cause sleep deprivation. (Common Sleep Problems AA). The physical symptoms of sleep apnea are excessive daytime sleepiness, snoring, restless sleep, heavy and irregular breathing, excessive perspiring during the night, bad dreams, sleeping with there mouth open, sleeps in strange positions, morning headaches, learning problems, excessive irritability, depression, changes in personality, difficulty
However, obstructive sleep apnea is just the opposite in which, it affects around two to four percent of kids’. The results of sleep