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APNEA, CONSEQUENCES AND SYMPTOMS
Apnea means that one stops breathing during his sleep lasting more than ten seconds. There are two types of apnea: obstructive apnea and central apnea.
1) obstructive apnea:
The syndrome of sleep apnea is diagnosed by repeated episodes of respiratory arrests, causing snoring to stop, worrying the spouse who thinks that the snorer is choking or asphyxiating.
During an obstructive apnea, the walls of the back of the throat are joined, involving a complete blockage of the airway.
The oxygen contained in the air inhaled can’t reach the lungs, and then pass into the blood stream.
Blood is then less oxygenated, which can be serious if these episodes last more than ten seconds and frequently occurs. In these cases, the cumulative effect of these episodes of respiratory stops involves a bad oxygenation of the brain, which forces the snorer to remain in light sleep, in order to keep a sufficient air passage.
The snorer can’t then recover sufficiently during his sleep, which will cause a tendency to sleepiness during the day and bad performances at work.
2) central apnea:
Less frequent, this type of apnea occurs when the brain task for breathing is defective.
Consequences:
In Canada the estimation is that each year, 3 800 people die of cardiovascular disease, origin related to sleep apnea.
Indeed, the oxygen desaturation, i.e. the fall of the blood oxygen rate, is the cause or contribute to the appearance of: arterial hypertension, myocardial infarction, stroke or disorders of the heartbeat, and even sometimes depressive tendency or sexual problems with a drop of the libido.
The tendency to tiredness caused by sleep apnea involves loss of memory and lack of concentration problems.
Symptoms:
It’s especially about sleepiness during the day, sometimes even at the wheel, very loud and irregular snoring, tiredness and morning headaches, irritability when waking up, memory losses, concentration problems, waking-up frequently during sleep, urinal problem, obesity and arterial hypertension.
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