You may be one of several men and women that are at the moment suffering from sleep apnea and are attempting to find a way to treat the problem. However, to be able to begin sleeping again really, you must first figure out what triggered the sleeping dilemma within the very first location.
What is Sleep Apnea?
Severe sleep apnea is a common disorder in which you have one or more pauses in breathing or have shallow breaths when you are asleep. Breathing pauses can last from a few seconds to minutes. They often occur five to thirty times or more in an hour. When this happens the episodes are called apnea or without breath. The seriousness of the disorder lies for how long these episodes occur to you. There are two kinds of Sleep Apnea that may occur in your body. One is Central Sleep Apnea which is caused by lack of effort by your body and the other is Obstructive Sleep Apnea when there is something chocking your air passage. The disorder may occur many times while you are sleeping leading to serious complications. So when you have been diagnosed with this order you must take it seriously and should go for immediate treatment of the disease. Your brain stops functioning normally as it should do while you are asleep.
Causes
Sleep apnea is caused by the abnormal way you breathe whilst sleeping. You have the tendency to cease breathing even though you happen to be sleeping.
Folks with sleep apnea quit breathing for a few seconds, and also for a couple of minutes. Most people with sleep apnea are hardly ever conscious that they are having a difficult time breathing while sleeping, not until an individual tells them. A lot of adults are suffering from severe sleep apnea, but children as well are also experiencing this sleeping disorder. Once you have sleep apnea, you’ll consistently feel sleepy through the day and throughout the day. You are going also to commence to have bad vision, daytime exhaustion and you will react to things really slowly.
This disorder will also make it quite hard for you to pay attention to points, as your body system is not functioning properly. Your sleeping disorder will also make you quite moody, and a lot of people have a tendency to get depressed because of how hard it really is for them to control their attitude.
Symptoms
Hypersomnia: feeling tired during days
Snoring: making roaring sounds while sleeping
Morning headaches
Breathing cessation: sudden wake up while sleeping
Dry mouth
Insomnia: a condition when you can’t fall asleep or stay asleep.
These are some symptoms of severe sleep apnea.
Signs
a. Loud snoring
b. Snoring sound is repeatedly broken by breathing pauses
c. Restlessness during sleep; repeated tosses and turns in bed.
Treatments
Treatment of Sleep Apnea is must and should be cured immediately after being noticed. One major cause of Sleep Apnea is overweight. So you should try to lose weight that may help you with proper breathing and curing this disorder.
So, if you want to treat your sleep apnea, then you must most surely follow these basic tips. They’re really powerful and can truly make it less difficult for to breath even though sleeping. Nonetheless, if your sleep apnea still does not increase, you need to take into account consulting your physician, as they’re far more knowledgeable on what you must do if you have sleep apnea.
Once your doctor has determined what type of sleep apnea you have, he will recommend sleep apnea treatments. There are a variety of ways to treat sleep apnea, including:
Diet and Exercise Changes:
Diet and exercise can have a big impact on your weight, which can, in turn, reduce your body fat and reduce your risk of obstructive sleep apnea.
Lifestyle Changes: Alcohol, sedatives and other types of medications can relax the body and cause too much relaxation. If the muscles relax too much, the body won’t breathe properly. Avoiding those as much as possible will help alleviate that risk.
Changes in Sleeping Habits: If you sleep on your back, it is more likely that you will suffer sleep apnea. Try to sleep on your sides to keep the airways open as much as possible. There are pillows that you can buy that will prevent you from rolling on to your back while asleep.
Dental Devices:
Dentists can give you certain sleep apnea treatments to help you prevent sleep apnea. These include tongue restricting-devices and devices that keep your mouth open to let air flow freely.
Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP): These sleep apnea treatments involve wearing a mask over your nose that is hooked to a machine that delivers a set level of air pressure to prevent the airway from collapsing. These devices are very effective for sleep apnea treatments. However, these machines are bulky and it is hard to sleep while wearing one.
Surgery:
Surgeries are sleep apnea treatments that are commonly conducted in people who have obstructive sleep apnea. In surgery, the doctor will remove any part that can obstruct the airway. The tonsils, uvula or soft palate are common parts that are removed.
As you can see, there are a variety of sleep apnea treatments. The important thing is that you seek treatment early to avoid continued sleeping problems. You don’t have to suffer from this alone.
Lack of sleep has other implications like increased fatigue.
The concentration levels also get affected and the person will have problems at the professional front due to this condition. You can also notice that the mind is not sharp enough and the reflexes do not function as before. Usually, sleep apnea is reported after a person suffers from this for a very long time. In some cases, the problem may even go unnoticed. In such cases, the lack of treatment leads to other complications like increased blood pressure, increased chances of a stroke, abnormal weight gain. The key is to stay informed and identify the problem at the onset or as early as possible.
There are methods such as Polysomnography and Oxymetry that help in studying the sleep patterns which will also be suggestive of whether or not the problem is present and also its severity. Borderline apnea cases can be treated with just changes in lifestyle while more severe conditions can be attended to with the relevant medical procedures.
The Role of Dentists in Sleep Apnea Treatment
Dentists have a critical role to play in diagnosing and treating sleep apnea. While the usual symptoms such as snoring and fatigue during the daytime may not be apparent to a dentist, the physiological signs of sleep apnea will be.
Dentists are well trained and educated in the initial signs and symptoms of Obstructive Sleep Apnea. These symptoms include a lack of room behind the tongue and a red, enlarged uvula, both of which can be easily detected during a routine dental examination.
While these may also be signs of an excessive snorer who does not suffer from OSA, it always better to undertake some further tests to make sure, particularly given the variety of side effects that OSA can cause. Undertaking further tests on children is especially important, as it is critical to address the issue in order to give them the best chance of a healthy development.