Many people sleep with their mouth open, snoring loudly, sleep on their back or sleep on an incline. These are common sleep-related habits that can lead to sleep apnea. Basically, Sleep apnea is a serious health condition in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep due to the throat muscles relaxing too much or because of throat fat blocking the airway.
It is important to know if you have sleep apnea so it can be treated early on before any long-term damage occurs. In this blog post, we will go over what sleep apnea is. how it affects your life and how important sleep apnea treatment is.
What Sleep Apnea is?
Sleep apnea is actually a sleep disorder that is characterized by pauses in breathing or periods where one’s breath becomes shallow during sleep. This condition typically lasts for at least ten seconds and can happen as many as hundreds of times a night, making it extremely disruptive to the quality of sleep that an individual gets (and usually has). Due to sleep apnea, the individual cannot take proper sleep and sleep deprivation may cause sleepiness during the day, which could lead to accidents while driving or at work.
How Sleep Apnea Affects Your Life?
The severity of sleep apnea is determined by the number of times per night that a person with apnea stops significantly or breathing reduces their breathing for at least ten seconds during sleep. In most cases, sleep apnea is a chronic problem that disrupts sleep and causes numerous other problems.
- Wake up feeling exhausted even after getting at least eight hours of sleep.
- Frequent morning headaches
- Waking up with a dry mouth or sore throat due to breathing through the mouth during sleep
- Sleepiness throughout all day long no matter how many times sleep
- Difficulty staying awake when driving or at work.
How Important Sleep Apnea Treatment is?
The best way to treat sleep apnea is by using a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machine which keeps airways open while sleeping. This device consists of an air compressor that pumps air into the nose of sleep apnea patients to keep their throat open. There are also oral appliances, which use a small piece of hard plastic worn inside your mouth at night so you can sleep comfortably with an open jaw and without snoring or sleep apnea symptoms.
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So, if you are having sleep apnea symptoms, sleepiness during the day or feeling exhausted even after eight hours of sleep. You should check with your doctor to determine if you have sleep apnea and whether sleep apnea treatment is right for you.