5 posts tagged “general info”
Sleep Apnea is a sleep disorder where one stops breathing continuously for 10 seconds or more during sleep. It can be cause by many factors. Generally, it is categorized into the following two according to the cause:
a.) Obstructive Sleep Apnea
- Caused by blockage/occlusion in the upper airway. Mostly due to structural problem (i.e. big tonsils, weak muscle tone, etc.)
b.) Central Sleep Apnea
- Mostly linked with neurological disorder. Means the body actually doesn't receive signal from the brain to breath. It 'forgets' to breath during sleep.
I've read an article that says that there is a new category of Sleep Apnea called the "Mixed Sleep Apnea" which, as the name would have suggested, is actually caused by a mixture of the abovementioned two category. Normally the person will have a blockage in the airway and then the brain will 'forget' to send out signal for the body to breath.
Do you know what is really happening when you snores?
The sound of snoring is actually caused by vibration of the muscles. It can be muscles in our nose or our throat. Snoring is not just some noise that you make to annoy people or to make people laugh. It is actually an indication that you might have some serious health problem.
Normally when we are in our deep sleep (when we are dreaming), our body are paralysed. We will not be able to move our muscle during this stage of sleep (otherwise we will all be sleep-walking!). So what happens is our muscle will relax and if those muscle in our nose/throat are too heavy or big, it will collapse and block the airway.
Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS) is a term used to describe those who have partial blockage in their upper airway. The partial blockage prevents smooth airflow and reduce the amount of air that is breath into the lungs. As a result, the person will have a drop in their blood oxygen saturation level (SpO2).
Sometimes, an arousal will occur. Arousal is an event where the brain sends signals to the body so that it will wake up from its paralysed stage. Although the person is still unconscious at this stage, the muscle is actually working hard (i.e holding up the airway to let air pass through). After the oxygen level is back to normal, the body start to fall asleep again. The cycle will repeat until the person is awake from sleep, often feeling very tired.
The fluctuation of our blood oxygen saturation level have a bad effect on our body, our heart in particular. Just imagine this, the oxygen in your blood drop, your heart will have to pump harder so that more blood can run in the circulation to ensure that enough oxygen is sent to the body system. Then when your oxygen level goes back to normal, the heart goes back to normal pace. But then, in as short as a few seconds, your oxygen level drops again, and the heart have to work hard again.
This is a tough job for a healthy heart, not to mention if you already have a heart condition!
The number one killer in Malaysia is Cardiovascular diseases. I wonder if this is an underlying contributing factor.
The Epworth Sleepiness Scale was developed by Dr. Murray Johns of the Epworth Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. It is a scale widely use by many sleep clinics worldwide to assess the daytime sleepiness of a patient.
A score that is higher than 9 suggest that the person is not getting enough sleep, indicating that he/she might have some form of sleeping disorder. Try this and if you get a high score, you should check with your doctor if you have any sleeping problem.
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EPWORTH SLEEPINESS SCALE (ESS)
How likely are you to doze off or fall asleep in the following situations, in contrast to feeling just tired? This refers to your usual way of life in recent times. Even if you have not done some of these things recently try to work out how they would have affected you.
Use the following scale to choose the most appropriate number for each situation:
- 0 = no chance of dozing
- 1 = slight chance of dozing
- 2 = moderate chance of dozing
- 3 = high chance of dozing
| Situation | Chance Of Dozing |
|---|---|
| Sitting and reading | |
| Watching TV | |
| Sitting inactive in a public place (e.g a theater or a meeting) | |
| As a passenger in a car for an hour without a break | |
| Lying down to rest in the afternoon when circumstances permit | |
| Sitting and talking to someone | |
| Sitting quietly after a lunch without alcohol | |
| In a car, while stopped for a few minutes in traffic |
To check your sleepiness score, total the points:
- 1 - 6: Congratulations, you are getting enough sleep!
- 7 - 8: Your score is average
- 9 and up: Seek the advice of a sleep specialist without delay
Well, if you do think snoring is funny, its time to start worrying. Snoring is a symptom of a disorder named Obstructive Sleep Apnea.
Whats that you say? Never heard of this in your life? Well its time we start being aware. Here's a tip on how popular is sleep apnea. Try Google and you'll get 7,250,000 results for the search "sleep apnea", and the number is growing.
"Apnea" means "without breath" in Greek. Obstructive Sleep Apnea (also known as OSA) is a sleeping disorder where one stop breathing for more than 10 seconds during their sleep. Sometimes the apnea might last as long as a minute and could happen more than a hundred times throughout a night. It is caused by either partial or complete obstruction of the airway.
Sleep apnea affects about 20% of the US adult population and that would be about 18 million Americans. Although sleep apnea is as prevalent as diabetes or asthma in Malaysia the shocking truth is that only a few thousand people are aware that they have this problem. Many didn't even know what sleep apnea is!
Sleep apnea could eventually lead to various cardiovascular and heart diseases, stroke, hypertension, and much more. As you can see these are diseases that you should be worried about.
If you (or your family) have any of the following symptoms, please read on for further information or visit your doctor for advice.
- Always sleepy during daytime
- Did not feel refreshed even after a long night sleep
- Loud snoring
- Poor short term memory
- Wake up with headache or a dry throat
- Frequent wake up in the night
Well, as a health-conscious youth, I believe it is time for you to read on and test your "Risk index" for sleep apnea.
Welcome to the Sleep Apnea Club~!
I've been very lucky for having a chance to understand what sleep apnea is and how bad it could affect one's life. I've seen people who are so exhausted, having poor quality of life and being very unproductive because they are too tired to do almost everything!
This club is my little effort to increase the awareness of this disorder which causes people to develop serious complications such as heart failure, hypertension and high blood pressure.
Here are what you can expect from this club:
- General Information on Sleep Apnea
- Information on treatment options
- Information in Sleep Study
- Forum and support group
- Link to great websites/articles
Everyone are welcome to post comments on article although you will need to register to participate in forum discussion. Registration is free and is solely for monitoring purposes. For those who registered themselves at the club, you will be receiving an exclusive monthly e-newsletter featuring articles and club updates.
Please feel free to leave any comments so that I can make this club a better and more informative space. Go to the "Official guide to the Sleep Apnea Club" for further information regarding the Club.
See you inside!
