Response To Sleep Apnea Essay

Improved Essays
8 Effective Responses to Sleep Apnea

We might own the night, as Selena Gomez sings but sometimes this is easier said than done. For one reason or other, sleep can be elusive to many - quality sleep most especially. A number of sleep disorders have been growing in prevalence of late. Among these is sleep apnea.

The three types of sleep apnea are: Obstructive sleep apnea, where the soft tissue at the back of the throat relaxes in sleep, creating a block to the air passage and is often accompanied by loud snoring; Central sleep apnea where the brain from time to time fails to send the signal to muscles for breathing and is seldom accompanied by snoring; and Complex sleep apnea which combines characteristics of obstructive sleep apnea and central
…show more content…
It has in fact been associated with dementia, cardiovascular problems and death. This is why the recent discovery in Sweden, published in the Journal of Anatomy, by researchers from Umeå University is regarded with much optimism and expectation. This team of scientists found muscle fibers in the soft palate of both infant and adult humans that are, not only unique but also, plentiful in individuals who snore and those who have sleep apnea.

The team, under the direction of Associate Professor Per Stål of the Umeå University Department of Integrative Medical Biology, made the discovery during their analysis of the muscles of patients with and without obstructive sleep apnea. The team wanted to determine if vibrations from snoring as swell as the stretching of tissue can actually result to neuromuscular damage to the upper air passage and eventually result to obstructive sleep apnea or even swallowing dysfunction.

Farhan Shah, lead author from the team, says: ”This discovery of special group of fibers gives us deeper insight into the complex anatomy and physiology of the upper airway and evolutionary specialization. These unique fibers have a special molecular build-up with an absence or modified design of some key proteins. Surprisingly, absence of these proteins have only been reported in genetic muscular

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    Sergio Caramanico

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Thank you for referring Sergio Caramanico, a 56 year-old gentleman who operates a manufacturing business. Sergio generally works ten hours per day. He is an ex-smoker of approximately 30 pack years and consumes alcohol on average two standards drinks each evening. Regular medications include allopurinol, Atacand and Liptor. As you are aware, around three weeks ago, Sergio was involved was involved in a motor vehicle accident where it seems he had a micro-sleep behind the wheel after driving through a round about.…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Summary When reflexes are initiated by stimulation of a chemoreceptor it is known as chemoreflex activation, an action which is important to this research. Chemoreflex can be activated by hypoxia, a deficiency in the amount of oxygen reaching the tissue and hypercapnia, excessive carbon dioxide in the bloodstream. Chemoreflex is a powerful stimulus that can “excite” the sympathetic nervous system, this excitement can then evoke “elevations in the muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA)”. The interaction between chemoreflex and sympathetic responses has been studied by researchers for years because it is believed that chemoreflex activation leads to elevations in muscle synaptic nerve activity in people with sleep apnea, a “disorder that…

    • 1370 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Dr Avi Weisfogel is the founder and owner of Dental Sleep Masters. He founded this company in 2014. The aim of the company is to diagnose and treat sleep apnea by use of oral appliances. Recent studies have indicated a correlation between sleep apnea and lifestyle conditions such as diabetes and CVS disorders. This has necessitated renewed vigour in diagnosis, treatment and research over the same.…

    • 257 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What Is Polysomnography?

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages

    This gave way to new possibilities for the way we study sleep and sleep disorders, and since then, the overnight diagnostic tests has been known as polysomnography. Polysomnography tests record many things like the brain activity, a person’s heart rate, a person’s breathing patterns, as well as movements of various parts of the human body. The use of polysomnography is now the standard in which tests for quantifying sleep and for assessing abnormal physiological events in sleep. Such as sleep apnea, periodic movements, electroencephalographic abnormalities and arousals are performed. Inadequate sleep or a person’s poor sleeping habits can result in drowsiness and impaired alertness and cognitive ability, thereby reducing a person’s productivity on the job and increasing the opportunity for human error and fatigue-related accidents.…

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Sleep apnoea occurs when the walls of the throat come together during sleep, which causes the throat to block off the upper airway. Breathing then stops for a small period of time, until their brain registers that the lack of breathing or a drop in oxygen levels and sends a small wake-up call. The sleeper rouses slightly, opens the upper airway, typically snorts and gasps, then drifts back…

    • 275 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Aspiration of food and saliva can also become problematic (CIDD). Suffocation during sleep is a very real possibility…

    • 366 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Application of Effective Communication – TJP1 Mallory McLean Western Governors University Student ID # 000596676 I. Introduction 1. Hook: Most adults in our country obese. This is also an alarming statistic showing in our children. Research shows that when you have obese parents their children are more likely to be overweight as well. This trend needs to change.…

    • 1230 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    According to the SleepApnea.org roughly 22 million Americans suffer from sleep apnea. This condition can increase the chances of experiencing other health issues. Award-winning actor, Rob Lowe will discuss sleep apnea and its consequences on the program “Success Files” broadcasted on PBS. Sleep apnea is a disturbance of an individual’s sleep pattern when their breathing stops. Without medical attention, this problem can cause people to have recurrent interruptions during their sleep.…

    • 208 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    Rest Apnea Research Paper

    • 1400 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Obstructive rest apnea is a typical unending illness in Western culture whose commonness is evaluated at 2% of ladies and 4% of men in the overall public. It is portrayed basically by repetitive impediment of the upper aviation route that outcomes in oxyhemoglobin desaturation and occasional feelings of excitement from rest. It now creates the impression that even gentle to direct rest apnea is connected with the improvement of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular danger. With expanding corpulence, rest apnea can add to the advancement of daytime alveolar hypoventilation (weight hypoventilation disorder), corpulmonale, and candid respiratory disappointment. Subsequently, given its high pervasiveness and grimness, rest apnea…

    • 1400 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Insomnia is characterized by trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. Half of adults will experience insomnia at some point in their lives, however it is diagnosed as chronic when a person has difficulty sleeping for three nights per week or more every week for a month or more. Insomnia has many possible causes, from bodily pain, to anxiety or depression, to excessive caffeine usage to work schedule. Insomnia is particularly dangerous because if a mental illness is not the cause of insomnia, insomnia and the prolonged exhaustion that accompanies it, could cause depression (Liqing, et al., 2016). Sleep apnea is a…

    • 1656 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Another of the many effects sleep apnea has on a person is heart failure, which is one of the many conditions that can be considered a type of heart disease. Simply put, heart failure is when the heart muscle is no longer able to pump enough blood to satisfy the body’s demands for nutrients and oxygen. This is a very significant fact, especially when one takes into consideration that the leading cause of death in the United States is heart…

    • 81 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Obstructive Sleep Apnea is a condition where respiration stops for an extended period of time during sleep. This is generally caused by excessive relaxation of the soft tissues of the oropharynx and muscles of facial expression and mastication obstructing the airway. It has been theorized that the potentially life threatening Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS), directly and indirectly influences Periodontal disease. Literature Review Signs and symptoms of OSAS consist of snoring, abrupt awakening from sleep, apneic periods witnessed by a sleep partner, dry mouth, sore throat, and excessive daytime sleepiness.…

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Obesity In America

    • 1794 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Sleep apnea is a condition in which a person stops breathing several times every night and is a life-long condition that can only be managed with changes in lifestyle or certain sleeping devices. Even when a person is not sleeping, doing simple everyday things such as walking up and down stairs can turn out to be exceedingly exhaustive. Not only does this surplus of fat affect…

    • 1794 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The definition of sleep from the Merriam-Webster dictionary is: the natural periodic suspension of consciousness during which the powers of the body are restored. Sleep is a wonderful, yet mysterious, thing. It can be identified as one of the most peaceful parts of your day. But how does one study sleep, when some people don’t remember their dreams and others don’t have a regular sleep schedule? Do smartphones affect your sleeping habits?…

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    There is another side to the counter-argument that I need to address, and it is that many people are not knowledgeable about sleeping patterns and the affects of unhealthy ones. Peretz Lavie asserts in “Restless Nights: Understanding Snoring and Sleep Apnea,” “People with the syndrome are totally oblivious of their nightly drama, they are usually very surprised to hear about it, and their response is something like, “But Doctor, I never wake up during the night”” (115). This just proves how misinformed or uninformed…

    • 1985 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays