Useful Tips About Sleep Apnea Head Position

By Joshua Reynolds


Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder in which the patient has their breathing interrupted while they are sleeping. If the condition is not treated, the patient usually experiences repeated breath interruptions in a night. Sometimes, it has been found that the patient may stop breathing hundreds of times in a single night. As a result of this, the body, especially the brain fails to get enough oxygen to carry out its normal functions. Here are facts about sleep apnea head position.

Conducted research has come to the conclusion that two major types of this disease exist. The two are central sleep apnea and obstructive sleep apnea, usually shortened as OSA. So far, obstructive sleep apnea is the commonest of the two. OSA is caused by blocked airway. The blockage is as a result of soft tissues in the back side of the throat collapsing when a person sleeps.

Central sleep apnea, on the other hand, is brought about by complications in the brain control centre. The appropriate signals sent by the brain to cause muscle contraction and relaxation for breathing to occur fail to be sent. This occurs when the part of the brain controlling breathing is unstable. This may occur due to a number of causes.

There are certain risk factors that predispose people to having this problem. However, the disorder can affect anybody regardless of age or gender. For instance, there are very many children who have this problem in the US at the moment. Some of the risk factors for this condition include being overweight, over 40 years, having a big neck, family history, GERD, being male, and nasal obstruction.

More men are indicated by research to suffer from this disease than women. Other major risk factor is having too much weight. The problem can be eliminated or eased by correcting weight. Among men, individuals with a 17 inches neck size or beyond are at higher risk of developing the condition. Even individuals with a neck size of 16 inches are still not safe.

Sleep apnea causes a lot of discomfort and in more than one case is known to be accompanied by more critical conditions. Some of these eventually lead to heart failure, headaches, depression, worsening ADHD, and diabetes just to name a few. Leaving the condition untreated for long makes children and adolescents to exhibit poor academic achievement. Adults at home or at work also exhibit diminished performance in their daily routines.

Several treatment options are available for this condition. For those who are experiencing moderate or severe forms of the condition, wearing a CPAP equipment may be recommendable. This equipment is worn when one is sleeping and helps to deliver air to the lungs at a slightly higher pressure than air in the atmosphere. The high pressure assists in keeping airways open, preventing snoring and apnea.

Other approaches of tackling this condition besides CPAP also exist. For example, the throat and airways may be kept open by adjusting both the head and sleeping positions while one is sleeping. Severe form of this condition can be corrected through surgery by creating new airways, removing tissues, or repositioning jaws.




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