The repeated awakenings associated with sleep apnea make typical, restorative sleep impossible, in turn making severe daytime drowsiness, fatigue and irritability likely. You might have trouble concentrating and find yourself falling asleep at work, while watching TV or even when driving.
Obstructive sleep apnea is considered a serious medical condition. Complications can include: Daytime fatigue and sleepiness. Because of a lack of restorative sleep at night, people with obstructive sleep apnea often have severe daytime drowsiness, fatigue and irritability.
“Try your best to keep the same bedtime and wake time every day of the week,” Dr. Knobbe said. “Research shows most adults feel and function best when they regularly get seven to nine hours of sleep per night.”
These events induce recurrent hypoxia and repetitive arousals from sleep. For adults 30 to 60 years of age, the prevalence of OSA has been estimated to be 9 percent for women and 24 percent for men. In patients with OSA, approximately 23 percent of women and 16 percent of men experience excessive daytime sleepiness.
Studies show that patients who develop sleep apnea before the age of fifty have a life expectancy between 8 and 18 years. Fortunately lifestyle changes, treatment, and other interventions can improve the life expectancy of someone with sleep apnea.
While there is no cure for sleep apnea, studies show that certain lifestyle factors can reverse or make your sleep apnea less intense. Other treatment or surgical options can also reverse the condition.
When OSA is not treated, it can also interfere with the normal functions of the cardiovascular and nervous systems. This may provoke abnormalities in a person's heart rhythms and other problems that can cause sudden cardiac death.
Hypersomnia refers to medical conditions in which you repeatedly feel excessively tired during the day (called excessive daytime sleepiness) or sleep longer than usual at night. It is different from feeling tired due to lack of or interrupted sleep at night.
Conditions such as narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia are thought to influence the hormones responsible for promoting wakefulness, causing sleepiness during the day. Similarly, people with circadian rhythm disorders experience a disconnect between their inner body clock and the times when they need to be awake.
Hypersomnia, which refers to either excessive daytime sleepiness or excessive time spent sleeping, is a condition in which a person has trouble staying awake during the day. People who have hypersomnia can fall asleep at any time -- for instance, at work or while they are driving.
More than usual daytime sleepiness. Waking up with a dry throat or headache. Waking up often during the night. Difficulty concentrating or mood changes during the day.
If you are using CPAP therapy but still feel tired, there could be several reasons why. It's possible that you haven't been doing the therapy for long enough, you are removing your mask during the night, your pressure needs to be adjusted, or your symptoms are mild.
There is good news. Upper airway stimulation therapy using a hypoglossal nerve stimulator is an option for people who are unable to tolerate their CPAPs. It's been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea.
But did you know that sleeping too much could also be problematic? Oversleeping is associated with many health problems, including: Type 2 diabetes. Heart disease.
Severe sleep apnea shortens life expectancy, in the worse case by as much as 4 times. Individuals with severe sleep apnea from the study reported having strokes and even cancer before they died, proving how much severe sleep apnea can be very destructive to someone's health.
Men are 2 to 3 times more likely to have sleep apnea than are women. However, women increase their risk if they're overweight or if they've gone through menopause. Being older. Sleep apnea occurs significantly more often in older adults.
Tragically, as in the case of Carrie Fisher, sleep apnea can also be deadly. Other celebrities that died due to sleep apnea-related complications include famous Indian singer Bappi Lahiri, who suffered from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and Amanda Peterson, who starred in the 1987 romantic comedy Can't Buy Me Love.
Unfortunately, we can't really call sleep apnea treatments like positive airway pressure (PAP) or continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) sleep apnea cures. They usually work very well in eliminating sleep apnea symptoms, but they're a means of treating and living with the condition, not of getting rid of it.
Weight loss of just 10-15% can reduce the severity of OSA by 50% in moderately obese patients. Unfortunately, while weight loss can provide meaningful improvements in OSA, it usually does not lead to a complete cure, and many sleep apnea patients need additional therapies.
It can cause you to stop breathing for 20 to 30 seconds at a time, numerous times throughout the night. Untreated apnea can increase the risk of a number of diseases, including high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some headache syndromes. Yet many people with sleep apnea don't know they have it.
Obstructive sleep apnea is classified by severity: Severe obstructive sleep apnea means that your AHI is greater than 30 (more than 30 episodes per hour) Moderate obstructive sleep apnea means that your AHI is between 15 and 30. Mild obstructive sleep apnea means that your AHI is between 5 and 15.