Sleep Apnea Essay

Sleep apnea is a common disorder in which the patient has pauses in breathing or shallow

What is Sleep Apnea? Sleep apnea is sleep related breathing disorder. It disrupts a person's normal breathing pattern while sleeping. This serious disorder decreases the levels of oxygen in the blood during long periods of sleep when the breathing repeatedly stops and starts while asleep. This chronic condition happens when the muscles at the back the throat relaxes and narrows the airway causing breathing pauses or shallow breaths, a common condition called Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). This occurrence significantly affects the quality of sleep that explains the feeling of tiredness and sleepiness during the day.

This relaxation goes even further when the soft palate muscles and uvula (fleshy tissue) sag over the airway as well, creating the "labored and noisy" (Sleep Apnea) so readily associated with the condition. It is important for the student to know that there are times when this blockage causes breathing to stop entirely. Interestingly, those who suffer with sleep apnea do not realize it, inasmuch as another person typically hears the startling noises and suggests that there is a problem. The sufferer may display frequent episodes of falling asleep on the job, giving work associates the clue, as well. "People with sleep apnea usually aren't even aware they have a problem and may not believe it when told" (Sleep Apnea). Inasmuch as sleep apnea is potentially life threatening, it is imperative that the sufferer seeks immediate diagnosis and treatment. Early recognition and treatment of obstructive sleep apnea is a critical step not only in getting a more restful night's sleep, but also in avoiding the potential complications of irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke. Sleep apnea is more prevalent in men and young African-Americans; however, it has been diagnosed during all life stages. It is important for the student to know that attaining proper diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea includes consultation with a primary care physician, pulmonologist, neurologist

Causes: The condition can develop in people who have a problem with the brainstem, which is the part of the brain that controls breathing. Situations that can cause or lead to CSA include: issues that involve the brainstem, such as encephalitis (brain infection), stroke, or conditions of the neck, injury to the brainstem, obesity, neurological disorders (such as Parkinson’s disease), and certain medicines (for instance narcotic painkillers). “If the apnea is not associated with another disease, it is called idiopathic central sleep apnea” (Central Sleep Apnea, Sept. 2017).

We live in a world where we are always on the go. We have projects and deadlines to meet for work. We have kids to pick up after school. We have projects to complete around the house along with the usual cooking of meals and doing laundry. It seems like we burn the midnight oil more times than we don’t. Unfortunately, if you think you can function off of a couple hours of sleep each night, you’re wrong.

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.

Sleep apnea is a chronic disorder where breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. It leads to snoring, fatigue and interruptions of oxygen flowing through the body. The need for life insurance varies with age, responsibilities and your health. Life insurance policies become valuable financial resources for maintaining a standard of life. Policies are designed to provide a fixed amount of money according the policy terms and conditions to helping families avoid hardships. Life insurance policies can include the insurer’s ability to draw against the face value of the policy in the event of an illness. In the case of having sleep apnea, the insurer becomes the beneficiary of the policy value. There are also instances, where the policy also functions as a secondary health coverage, should the primarily carrier deny the medical claim.

Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common form between both sleep apneas. OSA occurs when the upper airway collapse during sleep. Collapse of the upper airway may cause decreases in ventilation, but not complete cessation of it, with desaturation and arousal (hypopnea) and/or complete cessation of airflow for more than 10 seconds entitled apnea (Figure 1) 1. Common symptoms of OSA are frequent arousal, snoring, choking/gasping, daytime sleepiness, increased carbon dioxide (CO2) in the blood (hypercapnea), and a decrease of oxygen level in the body (hypoxia). As stated before, OSA is more common in men than in women. Other factors that influence OSA are those with an increased body mass index, thick neck/circumference, small erythematous oropharynx, position of body during sleep (most commonly the supine position), medication, alcohol, or pre-existing cardiac complications2. Usually, OSA is diagnosed by a sleep doctor monitoring the patient during a polysomnography (sleep study). Having a sleep study done is the gold standard diagnostic for assessing sleep-disordered breathing. There is monitoring of the airflow of the nose and mouth, end tidal CO2, the patient’s sleep state by electroencephalography, movement of the chest and abdomen, pulse oximetry, and blood pressure. “The apnea-hypopnea index (AHI)—the number of obstructive events per hour—is the most commonly used measurement to quantify OSA: mild OSA = 5 to 15 events/hour; moderate = 15 to 30

Wilson: Sleep apnea is a disorder that occurs when a person's breathing is interrupted during sleep. People with untreated sleep apnea stop breathing repeatedly during their sleep. Breathing pauses can range from seconds to minutes. This can occur more than

In spite of their efforts to ensure they obtain sufficient sleep to prevent daytime sleepiness, many people are consistently tired during the day. Some of them have a breathing disorder called sleep apnea, although they may be completely unaware of this fact. When the symptoms of sleep apnea are unrecognized or ignored, the disorder usually causes a combination of medical, social, and psychological illnesses -- which can become life-threatening over a prolonged period. Although sleep apnea is not a curable disorder, when symptomatic individuals utilize the availability of a simplistic diagnosis process and effective treatments, they will participate in a preventative medicine, adding years to their lives.

The sleep apnea is a respiratory disorder, where person's breathing pauses for five or more breaths during sleep. This can be either apnea or hypopnea. In apnea, breathing pauses or cessation of the airflow for at least 10s in duration, where as in hypopnea, a considerable reduction occurs in the airflow. These leads to a desaturation of oxygen levels in arterial blood.

Sleep apnea is a very common disorder, as it affects over six percent of the american population. It can be found in people of all ages but it more frequently found in people approaching middle age. It is also more common in men compared to women. Sleep apnea is a disorder in which the patient ceases to breathe in the middle of their sleep. The three different types of sleep apnea are obstructive, central and mixed. In obstructive sleep apnea, the patient has a physical obstruction that causes the airway to block, which causes trouble in breathing while asleep. The central sleep apnea is not caused by the blockage of the airway but it occurs when the brain can not signal the muscles to breathe. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is

The first question asked by the interviewer was what the patients risk factors for sleep apnea were. John Doe answered that he had been overweight, his neck circumference had been 17+ inches, he was male, that there was a suspected family history and that he had nasal congestion. His suspected family history was that he and his brother (who also suffers from sleep apnea) were positive that their father had sleep apnea. He had a large neck, was male, overweight and had very loud snoring, however, he was never diagnosed. Their father died from a heart attack in 1995, and the interview and John Doe suspect that the untreated sleep apnea played a role in the heart attack. The interviewer than asked what symptoms John Doe had before attaining treated.

Mr.C. is having hypertension; along with him being a pre-diabetic that has sleep apnea, high cholesterol and elevated triglycerides. All of theses are health risks related to obesity and he can become a diabetic if the weight is not controlled by proper diet and exercise. He is a good candidate for bariatric surgery as his BMI is 45. Currently, bariatric surgery may be an option for adults with severe obesity. Body mass index (BMI), a measure of height in relation to weight, is used to define levels of obesity.

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