Recently the number of individuals identified as having sleep apnea has been climbing but the fact remains that issues connected to sleep at night are frequently very difficult to pin down. Many of us experience very poor sleep from time to time but, more often than not, we just put this down to such things as stress or perhaps a poor bed mattress. The problem is that sleep apnea is a condition that can have serious consequences if it is not picked up and remedied.
There are numerous indicators which might point to you experiencing sleep apnea and maybe the one which most sufferers become aware of first is sheer fatigue. Although you may think you are getting a quality night of seven or eight hours sleep, when you are getting up still weary every day and find yourself becoming exhausted for no real reason each day, you might have sleep apnea.
Another very common warning sign is abnormal snoring. Now snoring can obviously be attributable to a number of things such as allergies and slight throat obstructions but, should you have chronic loud snoring that is typically, although not always, associated with gasping, snorting and even choking sounds , you could be suffering from sleep apnea.
Besides fatigue and often noisy snoring, you may also end up waking up in the night or waking with a throbbing headache, dry mouth or a sore throat. You can also end up being irritable and dropping into depression as your concentration starts to go and you start to become forgetful.
The most common variety of sleep apnea is obstructive sleep apnea in which soft tissue at the rear of the throat relaxes while you are asleep, barring your throat and giving rise to your snorting, gasping and suffocation. Less frequent but nonetheless potentially very serious is central sleep apnea which is a condition having an effect on the central nervous system where the brain basically does not remember to inform the body to inhale. In this type of sleep apnea snoring is infrequently found but you will wake up regularly in the night. Lastly, there is a third form of sleep apnea, called mixed sleep apnea, which is basically a mix of both the obstructive and central varieties of the problem.
A good diagnosis for sleep apnea is in the main made following a sleep study during which such things as your respiration, pulse rate, blood pressure levels and brain activity are assessed as you sleep in a controlled environment. In Most Cases, sleep studies are carried out in a sleep lab at a hospital or other healthcare facility though, currently, you will find transportable test machines that will allow the study to be conducted in the convenience of your own home.
Learn even more about sleep apnea including the use of sleep apnea masks and the variety of sleep apnea cures available nowadays.
