What's Keeping You Up at Night?

When Snoring Is Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea occurs when episodes of abnormal breathing prevent you from getting the oxygen you need. Its symptoms can spill over into serious health consequences, taxing major organs like the heart.

The cause of your sleep apnea depends on whether it’s obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), central sleep apnea, or a mix. OSA is due to a restricted airway, while central sleep apnea is a brain stem trigger that slows or stops respiration for periods of time. As you’d expect, a mixed diagnosis means the root causes of your sleep apnea are structural and centered in the brain stem.

Causes of sleep apnea disorders include:

• Neck size and fat deposits in the neck and upper airway
• A larger tongue and its position in your mouth
• Changes in hormone levels that impact airway shape
• Family history 
• Increased age
• Lifestyle habits like drinking alcohol, smoking, and taking medications like sedatives
• Tonsils and adenoids (especially in children)
• Medical conditions including heart or kidney failure, stroke, thyroid disorders, and endocrine conditions
• Extensive time in high altitudes
• Infection or injury to the brain stem 

Take Sleep Apnea Seriously

Sleep apnea is a condition that requires medical attention and treatment to prevent developing more serious health issues, from heart disease and diabetes to hypertension and persistent daytime fatigue that impacts mental health and well-being. 

For partners, a bed mate that suffers from sleep apnea triggers stress and worry, along with daytime irritability and fatigue because your sleep is disrupted, too. 

For those suffering from sleep apnea, risks include: 

• Cardiovascular problems including heart disease, stroke, heart failure, and arrhythmia
• High blood pressure
• Type 2 diabetes 
• Abnormal liver function 
• Compromised mental health 
• Lack of concentration, increasing the risk of accidents
• Metabolic syndrome
• Negative impact on relationships and intimacy 

Living With Sleep Apnea

If you suspect sleep apnea, an at-home sleep test or overnight sleep test in a clinical setting will confirm a diagnosis and recommend treatment, which is usually CPAP, BIPAP, oral appliances, or lifestyle changes. Before the acronyms overwhelm you, rest assured, complying with these proven therapies can help reverse negative health consequences like Afib and hypertension. Treatment will also improve your focus and mood, and offer life-changing outcomes for you and the partner who shares your bed.

Here’s what treatment for sleep apnea can look like: 

• CPAP – Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy keeps airways open with continuous pressurized air. You wear a mask to bed that is attached to a machine that keeps your windpipe open. CPAP is the gold standard for treating sleep apnea.
• BiPAP – A type of CPAP machine, the bilevel positive air pressure machine adjusts air pressures for inhaling and exhaling. 
• APAP – Automatic positive airway pressure dials in on your breathing patterns and adjusts accordingly. 
• Oral appliances – Mandibular advancement devices adjust the jaw to open the airway while tongue-stabilizing devices move the tongue forward to prevent it from blocking your throat and airway. 
• Surgery – While not the first line of defense, effective surgeries to solve sleep apnea include those that remove tissue from the throat and back of the mouth, tongue placement, and jaw repositioning. 
• Lifestyle changes – You can keep it simple with helpful habits like exercising, avoiding alcohol and sedatives, sleeping on your side or stomach, quitting smoking, and losing weight.