Health

Major Causes and Treatments of Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is not only a heavy snoring condition, but rather a medical disorder that causes poor quality sleeping as a result of repeated breathing pauses that cannot be controlled by the victims. A person experiencing sleep apnea will not at any time notice if they stopped breathing durin their sleep time but will only wake up later on breathing deeply when the airways have opened up. In fact, most people who fall victims of this condition claims to even have good sleep at all times.

This disorder is thus a serious condition that should be treated immediately after it is realised to avoid results of complex issues in the victims health. Failing to treat or control sleep apnea may result to heart diseases, early deaths, road accidents and depression among other serious complications. An individual suffering from sleep apnea may exhibit snoring loudly symptoms, fatigue, anxiety, sleepiness during the day and restlessness. Immediately after noticing these signs, it is important to get an immediate diagnosis to avoid further medical complex issues.

Causes of sleep apnea

This medical disorder is caused by several factors some of which includes;

• Excess weights and obesity

This kind of a situation may be associated with soft tissues in the mouth and the throat. During the sleep, the mouth and throat muscles become relaxed and hence leading to blocking of the airways.

Enlargement of tonsils which also contributes to closing up of the airways and hence limiting oxygen supply in the body.

• Growth of tumors in the airways

This is a factor that can lead to complete blockage of the airways amongst the small children though it may only occur in very rare cases.

• Narrow throat

This is also another factor that may lead to sleep apnea and should be checked to immediately get control of the condition.

• Muscular changes

When body muscles relax, the airways that allow free flow of oxygen may be altered and thus causing this sleep apnea.

• Thick neck

People having thick necks are most likely to suffer this disorder due to difficulties in breathing during sleep as a result of the closure of the airways. Having a bigger circumference of your neck should thus be a worry to you since it is among the top causes of sleep apnea.

Treatments for sleep apnea

1. Maintaining a healthy weight

This is a natural remedy to control the disorder. Increase in the general body weights leads to an increase in the size of the necks and therefore this calls for breathing problems for the victims. Therefore, the more the general body weight, the higher the chances of falling a victim of this disorder. Therefore, reducing your weights prevents the collapsing of your throat muscles and hence enabling you to enjoy your good sleep all night. In trying to reduce your body weight, you may consider eating some healthy foods, taking plenty of fibre diets and also doing frequent excises every day to help burn the body fats.

2. Avoiding alcohol consumption

This also another natural method that you can use to prevent this kind of a disorder. Alcohol alters the functioning of the throat muscles and hence causing poor quality sleep to the victims. Avoiding to consume these alcoholic drinks consequently prevents all these issues and hence ensuring you of a good sleep. Avoiding smoking also helps to fully control the problem and therefore you should make an attempt to help yourself from this serious disorder which would later lead to more complex issues.

3. Undergoing therapies

This therapy involves pushing oxygen into the body through some masks to keep the airways open throughout the sleep. This kind of a treatment is very ideal in controlling the problem and hence it should be used to help control the problem.

4. Use of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) therapies

This is an ideal treatment for poor quality sleep. The therapy ensures a constant provision of pressurized air into the patient’s body through a CPAP mask. Sometimes the machine may not provide enough comfort for the patient when wrong adjustments are made. However, there are settings that can be adjusted on the mask to allow a smooth flow of air.

5. Surgery

The sleep apnea patients may also undergo some surgical procedures to widen the airways which would consequently allow smooth passage of oxygen into the body.

Final Thoughts

Sleep apnea is a serious medical disorder and any individual who realises that they are experiencing any of the above symptoms discussed above, regardless of their gender or sex should immediately find means of diagnosing the problem to avoid further complications.

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