Sleep Apnea is a disruption of breathing while asleep. You can tell that a person has apnea when he experience choking or gasping for air while sleeping. It is somewhat the stoppage of breathing for 10 seconds or more. Pauses in breathing can occur 30 times or more per hour or over a hundred each night.
People who have sleep apnea usually don't know that they have it. Only their sleep partners can notice as they are usually disturbed by the loud noise they produces - snore.
The common symptom of sleep apnea is snoring. It is the sound that produces by the nasal passages when we sleep.
In addition to continuous loud snoring, other symptoms of sleep apnea, mostly in babies are:
poor weight gain;
mouth breathing;
enlarged tonsils and adenoids;
restless sleep;
excessive daytime sleepiness;
behavior problems which includes aggressive behavior and hyperactivity.
When someone has sleep apnea, his throat collapses during sleep, blocking the airway and preventing air from getting to the lungs.
Sleep Apnea can be fatal if not treated. It increases the risk of:
heart attacks;
strokes;
high blood pressure;
decreased productivity at work;
decreased attentiveness at home;
sudden death.
No comments:
Post a Comment