Sleep apnea is a very common problem both in adults and children. The causes of sleep apnea are multiple. Sleep apnea syndrome is potentially a very dangerous medical condition which can lead to serious medical problems including death. Other problems that are aggravated or caused by sleep apnea include daytime sleepiness and drowsiness and a tendency to go to sleep when ever one is sitting quietly, even if that happens to be in the automobile when one is driving. Daytime sleep apnea symptoms may include never feeling completely rested and they may have trouble concentrating during the day.
The simple explanation for sleep apnea is that people simply stop breathing for periods of up to many seconds during the course of their sleep. These episodes seem to occur when the person drops into what is called REM sleep. REM sleep is the sleep that produces rest and relaxation and is necessary for normal sleep patterns. The difficulty is that people with sleep apnea tend to stop breathing anytime they drop in to REM sleeping patterns. A sleep apnea study is one of the tests used in determining if someone suffers from sleep apnea and to what degree.
Certainly there are multiple causes for sleep apnea but one major factor appears to be excess weight. The vast majority of people with sleep apnea are to some degree overweight and a large percentage of them are extremely obese. Being over weight, increases airway resistance. When one breathes, the excess fatty accumulation around the abdomen, chest, neck and even in the nasal passages, restricts the ability of the diaphragm and other muscles involved in breathing to move air in and out of the lungs.
Weight reduction to normal physiological weight for height will, in the vast majority of cases, dramatically improve if not relieve sleep apnea altogether. Most of the other ways of treating sleep apnea are, at best, aggravating an irritating to the sufferer. Though certainly not easy, weight reduction is certainly one of the best treatments for the ultimate control of sleep apnea for many people.
Dr. Gorden T McMurry http://www.YourDoctorOnDVD.com is a physician with over 30 years experience in the practice of medicine, seeing and treating patients on a daily basis. Through a series of informational DVD’s, The Guides To Healthy Living series, he is providing sound advice to people on health and life style issues to help them control, maintain and improve their health and well being. He developed the series for use in his practice and they were so successful that he decided to significantly expand the list of available titles and make them
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