What Is Sleep Apnea?
Before we answer that, we must know what Apnea is. "Apnea" is a Greek word that literally means "without breath." Those suffering from Apnea have a severe breathing problem whether they are awake or asleep. Experts clinically define an apnea as a stopping of breathing for at least ten seconds in adults and for the equivalent of two-and-a-half missed breaths in children. In addition to regular apneas, there can ohypopneaspneHypopneaopnea" is a combination of two Greek words - "hypo" meaning "beneath" or "less than normal" pnea"pnea" meaning "breathhypopneaopnea is clinically defined as a reduction in airflow resulting in a struggle to breathe but is not a complete cessation of breath. In both apneahypopneaopnea episodes, the blood's oxygen level drops leading to health complications.
Sleep Apnea has been clinically defined as a treatable disorder in which the patient stops breathing during sleep. Each cessation of breathing is called apnea event. During the apnea event, your brain waked you briefly to get you to resume breathing. This results in the severe snoring accompanied with loud gasping noises and snorts. In short, people suffering from Sleep Apnea do not get a deep full sleep and experience among a host of other ailments severe daytime fatigue. They tend to fall asleep while driving, stopped at stop lights, during meetings, watching TV, and while listening to their spouses telling them about their day. I think you get the picture.
How Common Is Sleep Apnea?
Sleep Apnea is one of the most common ailments adults suffer from today. The medical profession first described it in 1965. Experts such as the National Institutes of Health estimate that at least ten to twelve million Americans have unrecognized sleep apnea. Five per cent of women and fifteen percent of men between the ages of 30 and 60 years old are effected. If you are one of those people who snore every night, you have approximately one chance in five if you are female and one in three if you are male of having Sleep Apnea. Researchers believe that two percent of all females and four percent of all males suffer the scourge of SA (Sleep Apnea). The average SA suffer profile is male, over weight and over forty years old. But anyone, even children can suffer from Sleep Apnea. I apparently had it since a young child (I was a prolific "snorer" back then) but was not diagnosed with it until about five year ago.
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to James Foster Robinson's Sleep Disorders topic, please visit the Discussions page.