Snoring and Sleep Apnea

When sleep shifts from light sleep to deep sleep, the throat relaxes more and the tissues of the throat vibrate during breathing. While these tissues are vibrating they might block the airway due to several reasons including allergies, anatomy of sinuses, being overweight, and alcohol consumption. This blockage results in snoring and when the airflow becomes more forceful, it leads to sleep apnea which can be defined as partial or complete airway collapse during sleep. 

While sleep apnea is considered similar to snoring, it has a very distinctive feature when it’s compared to snoring which is the breathing gaps. The breathing is momentarily cut off in sleep apnea so people frequently suffer from gasp for air in their sleep for a few seconds.

Daytime drowsiness, insomnia, being overweight and snoring are considered as the key signs for sleep apnea while the specific risk group for this problem can be defined as male gender who are overweight and have snoring problems. One of the more common problems is sleep apnea today is 4 out of every 100 people.

Symptoms For Sleep Apnea

• Excessive daytime sleepiness and fatigue

• Panting while sleeping

• Sore throat in the morning

• Chest pain

• Morning headache

• Irritability

It is common for people with sleep apnea to focus and concentrate. Apnea can be more dangerous in diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, or heart disease. Sleep apnea may be suspected if people experience a profound depression with excessive daytime sleep and irritability, fatigue, forgetfulness, distraction and learning disorders.

Treatment Of Snoring and Sleep Apnea

As there are plenty of factors that may cause snoring and sleep apnea, treatment methods vary as well. If your sleeping problem occurs because of the extra fat on your body, your doctor will recommend you to eat healthy and exercise. But if the problem comes from sinuses, you might need to get surgery. For the ultimate treatment plan, a doctor should examine you first.

While preparing a treatment plan, your doctor might request some tests from you such as tomography scan or magnetic resonance imaging. If necessary, you might need to join a sleep study as well. Sometimes this test can be done at home if you don’t want to stay at a sleep clinic. When all of the results combined together, your doctor will pick surgical or non surgical treatment methods.

Other Treatment Options For Sleep Apnea

Weight loss is regarded as one of the most effective treatments for sleep apnea. As being overweight triggers snoring which leads to sleep apnea, losing weight is recommended during the treatment procedure. Many people get rid of their sleep apnea problems only by losing weight but there are other methods for the people who still suffer from the sleep apnea after weight loss.

Depending on the sleeping style and the tissues in the throat, doctors might ask patients to use oral appliances as well. They can be considered as dental pieces that help positioning the tongue and jaw correctly so the patient can breathe more easily. For this kind of equipment, patients also need to get help from a dentist during the treatment.

If a patient needs continuous airway pressure while sleeping, doctors might want him/her to use a special equipment that will help breathing effectively. So the patient will be wearing a mask which is attached to a pump which pumps air continuously.