Snoring Like A Lorry? Time To Check For Sleep Apnea!
Loud snoring can affect not only your own health but also your partner’s sleep quality as well.
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Most would think that snoring is normal, but there is a point where it can be detrimental to our health. Excessive and loud snoring could be a sign of a sleeping disorder that affects your breathing while you’re asleep.
This condition is known as Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) or sleep apnea for short. It’s a sleep-related breathing disorder characterised by partial or complete obstruction of the upper airway.
OSA will result in poor sleep quality and those who have this condition will experience sleepiness even after waking up from a full night of sleep. Other symptoms include daytime sleepiness, morning headaches, irritability and forgetfulness.
A study in 2020 showed that 1 billion of the world’s population of 7.3 billion people, between the ages of 30 and 69 have OSA, with the prevalence of mild OSA ranged from 7.8% (Hong Kong) to as high as 77.2% (Malaysia).
How OSA prevents good sleep quality and impacts your health
OSA is actually more common condition than we realise in which your breathing stops and restarts many times while you’re asleep. This can prevent your body from getting enough oxygen which in turn affects your sleep quality.
With OSA, you could stop breathing for 20 to 30 seconds at a time throughout the night and in more severe cases, up to two minutes or more. If left untreated, it can increase the risk of several diseases including high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and some headache syndromes.
How sleep apnea happens can vary from person to person
Sleep apnea and OSA have been linked to several factors including:
- Being overweight or obese
- Having a large neck
- Ageing
- Having large tonsils or adenoids
- Smoking
- Drinking alcohol
- Having a family history of sleep apnea
To diagnose sleep apnea, your healthcare provider may put you to bed (no funny business, la). A somnologist—essentially a sleep doctor—could perform a polysomnography. This test records your body functions while you sleep to diagnose sleep disorders.
Treating sleep apnea can be done naturally or with devices
Breathing devices such as a continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) machine and lifestyle changes are common sleep apnea treatments.
Getting regular exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, limiting alcohol and caffeine, and quitting smoking can also help.
If your sleep apnea condition is not too severe, you could sleep on your side instead of your back to keep your airway open.
A dentist can make a custom-fit mouthpiece to keep your airway open while you sleep.
If other treatments don’t work, your somnologist might recommend surgery to remove your tonsils to create more space for your airway.
Although quite rare, sleep apnea could cause death
OSA does increase the risk of sudden cardiac death and although rare, it can still occur because a person’s breathing doesn’t restart after a brief pause.
However, this risk is believed to be higher in people of older age, people with critical illnesses, and people with severe OSA.
Any type of sleep disorder is no joke, as it can impact your health and daily life. If you find yourself feeling excessively sleepy during the day, you might want to check with your healthcare provider or a somnologist regarding your sleep health.
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