Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is when someone doesn’t breathe well at night.  They stop breathing multiple times while they are sleeping. Usually this happens when they are in their deepest sleep.  So the night is never restful, people wake up very tired.  People that are asleep are really bad about telling you what is happening around them while they are sleeping. That means people with sleep apnea rarely complain about breathing problems at night.  It may be hard work convincing someone to go get a sleep apnea test, because they don’t think anything is wrong, they just are tired.   It is even harder work to convince someone to use a machine at night to fix the sleep apnea.

One of the most important reasons to use a machine for sleep apnea is that sleep apnea causes many problems.   People with sleep apnea have a much higher risk of stroke.  That is a big problem.

People with sleep apnea can also have higher blood pressures, higher blood sugars, irregular heartbeats, weight gain and memory problems.

You don’t have to be heavy to have sleep apnea. Sleep apnea can occur in thin people.  However people that carry their weight around the middle part of their bodies have more problems.  Daily exercise over many months can help to reduce the weight around the middle.

If you are very tired, chat with your doctor about whether you need a sleep study. What you don’t know can hurt you.

Here is an article from the New England Journal of Medicine, for those of you that like journal articles.