What Is Sleep Apnea?
Sleep apnea is a disorder in which you stop breathing during the night. This happens repeatedly – you stop and then start, stop and then start. When you stop breathing, your oxygen level drops and your brain wakes you up because you aren’t getting enough oxygen. You might wake up several times during the night – or even several times in an hour – but you don’t even realize it because you go right back to sleep. The act of continuously waking up throughout the night, though, makes it hard to get a really good sleep, and you are tired the next day.
Besides being tired, there are other signs that you might have sleep apnea – some of which you may not know about unless your partner tells you that you do them:
- Loud snoring
- Gasping for air as you sleep
- Irritability
- Morning headache
- Morning dry mouth
Sleep apnea can also lead to some very serious complications. These can include high blood pressure and heart problems because of the strain that constant drops in oxygen levels can put on your system; type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance; metabolic syndrome, which can include high blood sugar, high blood pressure, and abnormal cholesterol levels; and liver problems such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
Treatment for sleep apnea may involve lifestyle changes, such as quitting smoking, losing excess weight, or being treated for nasal allergies. A continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine or an oral appliance might be another option, to help open your airways so that you can breathe better.
Being tired all the time is no way to go through life – and sleep apnea can lead to serious health problems as well. If you think you may have sleep apnea or another sleep disorder, contact Campbell Foundational Health for an appointment, at 919-308-9701.
