"My bed partner tells me I snore and sometimes stop breathing while I am asleep... Should I be concerned?"
Snoring and pauses in breathing happen even in healthy
people, especially when they sleep on
their back or consume alcoholic beverages too close to bedtime.
 |
Edward Grandi served as
executive director of the
American Sleep Apnea
Association from 2004 to
2014. During his tenure he
contributed significantly to
raising the visibility of the
ASAA in the public media
and the sleep community. He
is considered a subject matter
expert on sleep apnea and
continues to serve as a
resource on the subject. |
These events, called apneas or hypopneas (partial or complete obstructions that
result in reduced airflow to the lungs) become an issue when they happen often
during sleep and over many sleeping periods during the week.
There are two
issues related to apnea that can have far-reaching effects on someone's health. First is the fragmentation of sleep.
Second is the reduction in blood oxygen necessary to support vital organs.
Fragmented sleep
This happens when sleep interrupted by brief awakenings or
arousals that take place as the body restarts breathing after these pauses occur. Such pauses in breathing, to be
medically significant, must last 10 seconds or longer and occur, on average,
more than 5 times per hour of time asleep.
The arousals that follow do not necessarily result
in waking up, but often move the sleeper to a lighter stage of sleep. These pauses and consequent arousals disrupt the normal sleep
cycle, leading to fragmented sleep. This prevents the sleeper from benefiting from deeper stages of sleep, when the body is most relaxed and key restorative processes can take place, including during Rapid Eye Movement (REM) or dream sleep.
People experiencing fragmented sleep complain of waking up not feeling
refreshed from their sleep.
Reduction in blood oxygen
The frequent pauses in breathing that cause partial or complete obstruction of air entering the lungs (hypopneas and apnea) result in less oxygen in
the bloodstream and, in turn, to organs like the heart, kidneys and brain. The
result is hypoxia, the medical term for no oxygen in the blood. This can be serious if it occurs frequently or chronically. The body, starved of oxygen, will
take measures to keep breathing, including arousing as mentioned above. The result to a human body subjected to this oxygen starvation for long enough is death.
What is sleep apnea?
The symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), the
medical condition that results from experiencing many apneas and hypopneas during the course
of the night, can vary. Among them are excessive daytime sleepiness, morning
headaches, increased irritability, depression, high blood pressure, weight
gain and erectile dysfunction. The list continues to grow as more research is
done.
Risk factors for OSA
Simply put, everybody is at risk for OSA--both old and
young, male and female, obese and normal weight, adults and children. It is a
fallacy to think that OSA only affects overweight middle-aged males.
It doesn't take much for the opening to the upper airway to be blocked either
partially or completely. A large tongue, a narrow or crowded
opening to the upper airway due to fatty tissue, a long uvula... all these can
contribute to having OSA.
Diagnosing and Treating OSA
The best way to know for certain if you have OSA is to have a
physical examination that includes medical history plus a sleep study, which can take place either in the home or in
a sleep lab. Depending on the type of sleep study you need, the test will gather information
about your breathing (or lack of breathing) during sleep.
On the basis of that information, the
severity of your condition is determined by way of a measurement called the Apnea Hypopnea Index (AHI). The basic index formula is:
AHI = apneas+hypopneas/
hours asleep or in
bed
On the basis of these results, the treating physician will make some
recommendations on how to improve your sleep by reducing or eliminating these apneas and hypopneas.
There are a number of treatment options for OSA, with more
being developed based on research. Which treatment is right for you
depends a lot on the severity of your OSA and what you can tolerate. This should
be the subject of a discussion between you and your treating physician.
In the meantime, if your bed partner tells you that you snore and
sometimes stop breathing while asleep, and if you also awaken not feeling refreshed in
the morning, here are some things you can do right away that may help:
- Avoid sleeping on your back. When you sleep on your
back, you increase the likelihood that your mouth will come open and your tongue
will slide back to block the opening to your upper airway.
- Breath through your nose. Make certain not to
experience nasal congestion when going to sleep. This will reduce the chances
of mouth breathing.
- Practice good sleep hygiene. Check out these 12 simple tips to improve sleep
If, after you try these tips, you are still snoring and having frequent pauses in
breathing, and you continue to awaken feeling unrefreshed after a night's sleep, please consult a physician qualified in sleep medicine to further
determine the kind of problem you have and how to treat it.
Healthy sleep is the key to a healthy life. --Edward Grandi
© Edward Grandi 2014, All Rights Reserved
