Apnea: A Chronic Sleep Problem

A sleep lab patient, Pasadena resident William H. Chapman, was tested after his wife wrote his doctor to express concern about his restless sleep. Chapman, 61, has been a heavy snorer for decades.

"The descriptions of my snoring went from something like a growling bear to a machine that was going to knock down the house," he said. When he and his son went camping in southern Utah last year, his son asked him to sleep in the truck.

He felt bone-tired during the day, what he describes as "30 years struggling against this weariness that you feel perpetually. No alertness. No get-up-and-go."

Finally, Chapman spent a night at Torrance Memorial, plugged into the polysomnograph. The test results were startling: He was holding his breath as many as 57 times an hour, each time for 10 to 40 seconds. He would wake repeatedly as he held his breath, meaning that he unknowingly was sleeping only four or five hours a night.

A federal report concluded that while 60 million Americans suffer from apnea, narcolepsy and other chronic sleep problems, the majority are undiagnosed and untreated. Despite its pervasiveness and impact upon the society, sleep-related problems are not recognized as a public health issue.

The most common and severe form, called obstructive sleep apnea, features extremely loud snoring interrupted by pauses and gasps. Breathing stops for 10 seconds or longer, sometimes dozens or even hundreds of times each night.

Most frequently, the airway becomes blocked during sleep due to excessive relaxation of throat muscles. In children, sleep apnea is often the result of enlarged tonsils and adenoids.

People with sleep apnea may show signs of anxiety, depression, irritability, forgetfulness and fatigue during the day. Recent studies have found that sleep apnea sufferers have two to five times as many automobile accidents as people in the general population.

Treatment includes weight reduction (most people with severe sleep apnea are overweight); avoiding alcohol within two hours of bedtime and sleeping drugs; surgery to remove excess tissue at the back of the throat or enlarged tonsils and adenoids; use of a special mask that improves flow of air through nasal passages.

Undergoing surgery or sleeping with a mask clamped to your face may seem like extreme measures just to silence snoring. But if you have sleep apnea, those treatments could save your life.

As awareness of apnea mounts, suspected sufferers are spending their nights under an infrared camera's watchful eye in hundreds of so-called "sleep labs" across America, sensors dotting their skin and scalp.

Eleven o'clock is "lights out." At 11:02 sharp, Navarro yawns. A needle swings wildly on a monitor humming softly in the next room. At 11:10 p.m., Navarro turns onto his left side, and a half-dozen needles jerk in response.

This night will be like no other for Navarro, a 32-year-old computer programmer. For the next seven hours, his every breath, movement and heartbeat will be recorded as he spends the night in a sleep disorders laboratory.

He is here because doctors think he suffers from sleep apnea, a disorder marked by loud snoring and interrupted breathing. Once considered relatively obscure, sleep apnea is stirring increased concern among physicians because it can cause severe daytime fatigue, high blood pressure, stroke and heart problems; serious cases can be life-threatening.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that sleep apnea is more common than once believed. The study found that 9% of women and 24% of men had sleep-disordered breathing; 2% of women and 4% of men in the middle-aged work force met the criteria for sleep apnea. That would make undiagnosed sleep apnea a major public health burden.

Depending on the severity of the apnea, treatment can include use of a night time face mask or even surgery. There's a less high-tech approach for those who snore or suffer apnea only while on their backs: sewing a tennis ball in the back of their pajamas tops so they will sleep on their sides instead.

Not surprisingly, roommates and spouses are often the first to spot potential apnea victims. Navarro is a longtime snorer; he can remember his college roommates waking him to request that he tone it down. His wife, Christine, grew worried when she noticed that he sometimes stopped breathing briefly during the night. She learned about sleep apnea from her doctor and urged her husband to get tested.

A video screen shows Navarro dozing peacefully. Pink computer paper moves steadily through the polysomnograph, a machine with 12 needles that records everything from his eye movements to heart contractions.

All night, monitors will record the needles' black tracks, paying special attention to those measuring Navarro's breathing. Sleep apnea victims have been known to stop breathing hundreds of times each night.

About the Author

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The History of Sleeping Disorder!

Often we speculate why sleeping disorders are becoming an important subject in today's culture. According to the website Wikipedia there is a sum of 14 different disorders ranging from eye twitching to restless legs. A number of these problems are treatable and even avoidable when monitored by a practitioner or dedicated health expert.

Sleeping disorders can be very dangerous when they go undiagnosed. A lot of people who suffer from this disorder face a lot of life threatening problems for the reason that having a sleeping disorder can unfortunately dislodge them from living your ordinary life.

Because if they are spending more time distressing about their condition than getting the right amount of sleep then this can really overtake them, and just make matters worst. The predicament with many people who have a sleeping disorder is that they are not conscious of it being a problem until they realise that it is affecting their job and daily life. A large number of accidents that happen at home or at work are also due to people with some kind of sleeping problem. Individuals who go through this can also develop clinical depression since they feel like they are not capable to do any of the things that they used too, if they have been diagnosed with a sleep disorder.

A test called the Polysomnogram which is used to find out and identify a sleep disorder so that specialists and doctors can chart a treatment intended for that individual person as not all treatments are the same. Every now and then people who have disorders such as narcolepsy usually have their brain activity measured to see where they are reaching peak points of sleeping so they can be treated since narcoleptics can not really work on jobs that involve them operating machinery or other things for the reason that they have to be on the alert and wide awake to know what they are doing.

Having a sleeping disorder can make people believe they are not normal, but this is not so because the problem can be treated through medicine.

The normal person sleeps between 6-8 hours, but the most anyone sleeps is 10 hours. Individuals who sleep more than the accepted number of hours tend to throw their bodies off due to the fact that as you would expect we sleep and awake when the day changes. You should get the right amount of rest because your immune system can stress out when you do not get rest which can trigger other medical and health issues from the need of rest.

In this day and age younger people find that lifestyles trigger the use of drugs, drinking, smoking, and a poor diet consisting of a lot of damaging food choices and a lack of exercise and maintaining physical health.

A lot of times a sleep disorder can be caused from sickness or from the medications used to treat an illness. Mental health problems, such as depression, can also trigger on a sleep disorder.

About the Author

Lionel Estridge has tailored a special package for anyone who has bothered to read this article. Get hold of the package go to:

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Sleep Meditation - Medication for Sleeping Disorder

Being exhausted after a hectic schedule, we feel an urgent need to catch some sleep for a refreshing relief. But what if sleep eludes us? We yawn numerous times, toss and turn a lot but without no fruitful effect. It is a frustrating experience that emits irritation and anxiety leading to affect our performance in the coming days. Some of us are fortunate enough to experience such a trouble once in a blue moon but for some this problem is a frequent visitor. Luckily, sleep meditation is a mechanism to heal this ailment.

In most of the cases, insomnia, medical term to refer sleeplessness, is attached with psychological problems instead of physiological disorder. Severe pain or inflammation may also cause insomnia but in these cases, the sleeping pills are prescribed to lessen the uneasiness of the patients and provide them some rest. But if the problem emanates from mental depression or heavy workloads or pessimistic thoughts or haunting past, the patients must seek alternative ways to alleviate the sleep disorders. Sleep meditation is an effective medication that pulls the meditators out of the mental recess and puts them to sound sleep.

Meditation is touted as an ideal technique to bring the practitioners a prolix list of cure-alls. Regular practice enhances the energy level, ensures physical fitness and floods the mind with encouraging thoughts. Meditation is not a way for emptying your mind of ideas but a method to filter out the negative thinking only. The beginners may get easily bored during meditation but overtime, they discover it fascinating for their mind as well as body. Meditation techniques for beginners show the way how to get into the meditative stage as quickly as possible.

At fast, the beginners may get into a rage because they have failed to tame the worries in spite of putting their best effort. But the satisfactory result is not easy to come. So, giving up the hope due to the futile efforts is nothing but an act of foolishness. You try to keep your mind at rest but every time the nagging problems flash on like the good-old-silent movies. Whatever meditation techniques for beginners you try out, the result will be the same. But if you diligently practice it day in and day out, you will realize the difference. You will find it easier to fall asleep and start your day with lots of enthusiasm. It is better to practice sleep meditation prior to slipping into bed to achieve the best result.

How does the sleep meditation bring the meditators such a magical effect? Well, the effective result comes through some sequential steps. Meditation makes the pulse rate slower, reduces the blood pressure and lessens mental tension. When our mind passes through the relaxing stages, brain also gets into a tranquil state that is the initial step of sleep. In a nutshell, sleep meditation mops up the cluttering thoughts and helps us gain a focused stage. When you are able to obstruct the unpleasant thoughts, sleep is easy to catch.

About the Author

Justin Woods is a Doctor who recommends meditation techniques for a stressful life or for a good physical and mental health. He also writes articles on meditation techniques for beginners & sleep meditation. For more information he always recommends to visit http://themeditationmind.com/