Does your loud snoring leave you and others sleepless, do you wake up tired and cranky and feel that you haven’t slept the entire night? You also wish for an uninterrupted and peaceful sleep every day, where you wake up to a relaxed and fresh morning. You might be suffering from a serious sleep disorder called Sleep Apnea. In this condition, breathing in a person repeatedly stops and starts while they sleep. We asked our expert, Dr. Rajesh Vukkala, MD (General Medicine), Consultant Physician at VINN Hospital, Hyderabad, about this condition and he says, “When we breathe in and out, our oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) levels should match. But in Obstructive sleep apnea, which is related to the structure of sinus, nose, neck, the levels are mismatched. There is another condition called Central apnea, which is related to how our brain regulates the supply of O2 and CO2.”
The commonest presentations of sleep apnea are:
- Loud Snoring
- A person waking up feeling tired, as if they didn’t rest at all
- Mild headache
- Lack of concentration
- Chronic fatigue
- Inability to carry out day-to-day activities
- Choked or abrupt awakening
- Gasping for Air
- Stress
“Most of these people are also at risk of developing metabolic disorders like diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis, hypothyroidism, etc. The worst-case scenario is that due to the mismatch of O2 and CO2 in the body, vital organs, the brain, heart, and lungs can be affected,” he says.
Who is at more risk?
According to Dr. Vukkala, a person’s physique can increase their risk of developing sleep apnea. People who have:
- Obesity
- A larger neck (more than 17 inches)
- Have a Body Mass Index (BMI) more than 25
- Deviated Nasal Septum (DNS)
- Allergy
- Sinusitis
- Asthma
Diagnosis
Sleep apnea can be diagnosed by doing a sleep study, medically referred to as Polysomnography. A machine is fixed up either at home, hospital, or lab, and the person’s sleep is closely observed. When the person is asleep, the parameters noted are:
- How the person is breathing?
- How much O2 and CO2 is exchanged?
- How is the heart beating?
- What is the blood pressure maintained?
Therefore, all these parameters are studied. The Apnea index is another thing, which tells how many times the person stopped breathing. According to that index, a reading upto 6.5 is normal. Anyone above this reading is considered to have significant symptoms of sleep apnea.
How to manage?
The person should look for causes and try to reverse them. If there is a nasal deviation, they should get it corrected, reduce weight if they have a higher BMI, etc. If these causes are reversed, Sleep Apnea too can be reversed. But, if the person is old and reversing the causes is not possible, other options like surgery can be considered.
Hence, other lifestyle changes like maintaining a healthy weight, practicing pranayama, yoga or aerobics, and going for a walk changing sleeping position and ensuring proper ventilation can be very helpful.
