My Fitness Edge

It is believed that in America alone, somewhere between 60 and 80 million US citizens suffer with sleeping disorders. Though hundreds of kinds of sleeping problems exist, there are 3 well-known types: sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome and narcolepsy.

It is extremely helpful to have a basic understanding about this sleeping problem and the various types of sleep apnea so that treatment choices can fully be appraised and sleep apnea dangers informed about. By getting trained help sleep apnea testing can be performed and a correct diagnosis acquired.

Obstructive sleep apnea

Obstructive
sleep apnea is the most prevalent form of sleep apnea accounting for 84% of sleep apnea
cases. It happens when the throat muscles relax while sleeping, causing a narrowing or blockage of the
airway. Once the obstruction happens the level of oxygen in your blood drops.

Breathing stops momentarily or becomes extremely shallow. Your brain senses this incapacity to breath and acts by quickly disturbing your sleep enough so you wake up briefly, open your upper airway, typically snort and gasp, then drift back to sleep just about straight away.

Frequently the cycle is constant and as a result you spend a lot more time in light sleep and less time in deep sleep leading to exhaustion. If you have obstructive sleep apnea, you may not even notice that you have woken up many times in the night due to an obstruction as you are only awake for 1 or 2 seconds at most.
The results of this disruptive sleep pattern however could cause mayhem in your life.

Central sleep apnea

Central sleep apnea is a lot less regular only accounting for 0.4% of all cases. It involves the nervous system, instead of an airway blockage. It happens when the brain fails to send signals to the muscles that control your respiration. Patients with central sleep apnea seldom snore. In central sleep apnea, you might be aware of your awakenings seeing that you are usually awake for longer amounts of time.

Complex sleep apnea

Complex sleep apnea is a combination of obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea and accounts for 15% of cases. This means that your airways can frequently become blocked or constricted and your mind can also fail to send signals to your breathing muscles.

The severity of sleep apnea

The seriousness of sleep apnea relies upon how often the breathing is interrupted.

As a guide:

Ordinary – less than five interruptions an hour.

Mild sleep apnoea – between 5 and 15 interruptions an hour.

Moderate sleep apnoea – between fifteen and thirty interruptions an hour.

Serious sleep apnoea – over 30 interruptions an hour.

After going through sleep apnea symptoms for many years the author, Peter Patterson, underwent sleep apena testing to correctly diagnose his health condition i.e. what types of apena he had, if any. His site is full of valuable info referring to all aspects of this sleeping problem.