Is Sleep Apnea a Big Deal?

Sleep apnea is the reason for 450,000 deaths per year. So yes, it is a big deal and you need to be careful about it. Although this disease is quite threatening, it is quite a common one. Having that said, it gets really important to talk about this disorder.

Recognize the symptoms

There are many signs which may suggest that you are suffering from sleep apnea. The most common and infamous one is snoring. When the muscles of your throat collapse, oxygen gets blocked from reaching the lungs and brain. As a result, the heart has to work quite hard to let the oxygen reach the places it needs to reach. The throat then allows limited passage of oxygen due to which the sound of snoring generated. In many cases, this condition can lead to the overall inability to breathe in the night numerous numbers of times.

Apart from snoring, there are some additional symptoms which may include tiredness in the day, Insomnia, morning headache, Heartburn, and attention problems. Ignoring these symptoms and leaving the main cause untreated can lead to high blood pressure, fibromyalgia, increased risk of stroke, Acid reflux, Type II diabetes, obesity, and hypertension.

Lifestyle changes

While sleep apnea requires professional treatment, there are some ways you can alleviate symptoms. Treating these symptoms can actually help you in reducing the intensity of this disease.

• You need to avoid alcohol completely. Alcohol consumption can result in the reduction of resting tone of muscles in the throat, leading to the likelihood that you will snore.
• If you are overweight, you need to focus on losing your weight. Being overweight can result in a number of health risks including sleep apnea. By losing weight, you can stop snoring at night. Moreover, the quality of your life will improve by losing weight.
• Another way you can stop snoring is by changing your sleep position. For instance, lying on the back usually results in snoring in the night because tongue rests against the throat. Therefore, you can lie down on your side.

Professional treatment

Although lifestyle changes can help in relieving the symptoms, you need to treat the root cause. For this purpose, professional treatment is the only way to go. You can go to your dentist in this regard. your dentist will work with your physician to treat your problem.

There are two options for the treatment of sleep apnea.

CPAP Machine: This machine is also known as Continuous Positive Airway Pressure machine. The use of this machine involves wearing of a mask in order to increase air pressure in the throat. This increased pressure doesn’t let the walls of throat to collapse.

Oral Appliance: This is another option you can consider for treating the sleep apnea problem. The reason this option is the more preferred one is that it can be transported pretty easily due to its small size. The use of this appliance is pretty convenient, and it helps in stopping the snoring pretty easily.