February 1, 2025
Sleep apnea is a disorder of the respiratory system in which breathing ceases for a period of a few seconds before resuming. Such periods, which may also occur during sleep, are sometimes alternated with periods of rapid, heavy breathing known as hyperpnea.
On a personal level, I snore. But what’s worse is that I suffer from apnea, a term which means “no air.” It seems nearly one in three Americans snore and one in ten have sleep apnea.
Well, is it a nuisance or is it a health concern? The answer: both. Most of us know that snoring can be extremely bothersome to your bedroom partner if he / she is not a sound sleeper. The snoring occurs when your breathing airway is partially obstructed by tissues (that may vibrate) near the pharynx in the back of the mouth. Alternately, the air passage may be extremely narrow or partially blocked; a small jaw can also cause problems. Thus, anything that narrows the breathing airways can cause snoring. In these cases, the noise usually ends when the problems are addressed.
When total blockage occurs, it is defined as the aforementioned sleep apnea. Breathing ceases at this point and the individual is deprived of oxygen. Individuals on average can suffer from a few to a hundred of these episodes per hour. This in turn leads to an increase in blood pressure. Although the apnea effect may only last a few seconds, this starting-and-stopping process can lead to a heart attack, stroke, hardening of the arteries, or kidney failure. In addition to these problems, sleep apnea can cause difficulty in reasoning, short-term memory loss, headaches, muscle pain, depression, and slow reflexes.
From a medical perspective, the delivery and deposition of oxygen to the heart is a requisite to sustaining life. The breathing process provides the regular and continuous requisite supply of oxygen content of the air to various locations within the body.
One of the oxygen passageways to the lungs is the pharynx (often referred to as the windpipe); its opening is ½ inch in diameter. However, the passageway can be partially blocked by muscle tissue at the entrance to the windpipe. This tissue normally hangs loosely in the pharynx during most hours of the day. During sleep, particularly when one is dozing face up, the tissue can flop downward due to the force of gravity and partially (or totally) block the opening.
The blockage phenomenon also arises because muscle tissues in the uvula at the back of the throat and the entrance to the pharynx can sag under the force of gravity. This effect may be exasperated due to a similar action at the epiglottis.
When blockages occur, the resistance to the flow of air in the passageway increases, which in turn reduces the flow of air to the lungs. This sleeping disorder process has come to be defined as the aforementioned sleep apnea.
There are several possible solutions to sleep apnea.
- The first is to sleep on one’s stomach with a prop pillow to support one side of the face. This prop pillow can be similar to a doughnut used by a pregnant woman to relieve pressure from one side of her body. By sleeping on the stomach, the gravitational effect on the trachea and any blockage of the airway will be minimized or eliminated.
- The second possible solution is to insert a mouthpiece similar to that of a wrestler or boxer. This mouthpiece forces the mandible jaw to remain in the forward position which keeps the airway open during the course of the night. Your dentist can also provide a soft plastic device that can be custom-fashioned to hold both the jaw and tongue forward during sleep. This solution may cause some discomfort to the patient and is not recommended for all individuals.
- Use adhesive plastic strips to hold the nostril (more) open. This solution helps to reduce the resistance of flow to the lungs.
- The treatment by somnoplasty, a procedure that employs radio frequency energy to treat the affected area in the air passage. Here, an automated radio frequency control delivers a measured amount of thermal energy to a specific area at the back of the mouth. The process effectively burns off the unwanted fat and / or tissue without damaging the throat lining. Somnoplasty usually takes less than five minutes and can be performed in a doctor’s office.
- The fifth solution is a lifestyle change, and only pertains to some sufferers of sleep apnea. Changes that include: eliminating the use of alcohol and other depressants, loss of excess weight, and maintaining regular sleep times. Depressants such as alcohol relax the muscle cells of the trachea, causing them to partially collapse and prohibit the flow of oxygen. Eliminating these drugs can lower the occurrence, or even prevent sleep apnea in some patients. Losing excess weight can lower the risk of sleep apnea because, if the trachea is made up of less fatty cells, it will have less tendency to collapse during sleep. By maintaining regular sleep times, the effects of extreme fatigue on the muscle cells in the trachea can be minimized. Two other lifestyle changes can include: smoking cessation and avoiding unhealthy snacks before sleep.
- The new kid on the block (this year) prompted the writing of this article involves using an expensive (relatively speaking) simple strip across the mouth that forces one to breath through the nose. The inventor claims that it will solve the apnea problem.
Well, that is what is out there in terms of solving the apnea problem. What do I recommend, you ask? My solution earlier first employed process (3), which was followed by (2). Both, at best, marginally solved my problem. Process (1), which I first recommended 20 years ago, did the job. It is what I recommend, and don’t tell me you can’t sleep face down! I presently continue to employ (1) and have no plans to visit a sleep apnea doctor; and, I have no plans to use process (6).
I hope the above helps some of you.
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P.S. My talk on casino gambling scheduled for Wednesday, February 5th has been cancelled and rescheduled for Thursday, April 10th.
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