Sleeping without Breathing Harmful to Your Health

If you snore loudly, wake up feeling tired after a full night's sleep, or are sleepy during the day, you may have sleep apnea. Apnea means without breath; in this disorder, breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. The typical person with sleep apnea is an overweight, middle-aged man who has allergies, but apnea can occur at any age, and in women as well as men.

There are two types of apnea, obstructive and central. Central sleep apnea occurs when the brain fails to transmit signals to the breathing muscles, a result of conditions like heart disease, stroke, brain tumor, and neuromuscular disorders. Because central is less common than obstructive, this article focuses on obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

OSA is caused by a blockage of the airway, usually when the soft tissue in the rear of the throat collapses and closes during sleep. When the muscles relax, the airway narrows or closes as you breathe in, momentarily cutting off breathing. This lowers the level of oxygen in the blood. Your brain senses this inability to breathe and briefly rouses you from sleep so that you can reopen your airway. This waking-up is usually so brief that you don't remember it, but since this pattern can repeat 20 to 30 times or more each hour, all night long, sleep is fragmented and of poor quality. People may not be aware that their sleep was interrupted; in fact, many people with this type of sleep apnea think they sleep well all night.

The most common signs and symptoms of OSA include: excessive daytime sleepiness; always feeling tired; loud, irregular snoring, then quiet periods of at least 10 seconds when breathing stops; abrupt awakenings accompanied by shortness of breath; waking with a dry mouth, cough, or sore throat; morning headaches; moodiness, irritability; unable to concentrate or remember. Apnea sufferers are often diagnosed as depressed, when really they are simply exhausted and cannot function properly.

Certain factors pose increased risk. Excess weight, in the form of fat deposits around your upper airway, may obstruct your breathing. Enlarged tonsils or adenoids can narrow the airway. Alcohol, sedatives and tranquilizers relax the muscles in your throat; smoking increases the amount of inflammation and fluid retention in the upper airway (quitting smoking drops the risk). High blood pressure, a family history of sleep apnea, being older than 65, and being male are factors.

Several mask and ventilator devices are available, as well as dental appliances worn in your mouth. A Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) is a nasal mask which forces air through the upper airway with enough pressure to prevent the upper airway tissues from collapsing during sleep.

There are some pharmaceutical drugs used to treat apnea, but the side effects are unpleasant, so it’s well worth trying lifestyle changes first.

Lose weight - eat less, exercise more. Minimize use of alcohol, antihistamines, or tranquilizers. Eliminate mucus-producing foods (dairy and bananas) for two weeks, then reintroduce them and notice any difference. Get treatment for allergies, colds, or sinus problems. In bed, put pillows behind you so you lie on your side, or use foam wedges (from a medical supply store) so you’re sitting up more than lying flat.

When blood oxygen levels are lowered, from not breathing as fully as possible, the heart has to pump harder. This raises the blood pressure, reduces the flow of oxygen to the brain, and may cause enlargement of the heart, with higher risks of heart attack and stroke.

If you have sleep apnea, you will feel far-reaching effects from taking steps to improve your health and get a good night’s rest.

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