Everything you need to know about sleep apnoea
What is sleep apnoea? Find out about the different types, causes and how to treat this disorder to regain healthy and restful sleep. We’ll tell you all about it.
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What is sleep apnoea?
If you are wondering what sleep apnoea is, we are going to clear up all your doubts. Sleep apnoea is a disorder in which breathing is interrupted or becomes very shallow when we sleep. It’s estimated that almost 40% of the adult population suffers from this disease and that more men than women tend to suffer from it. It also tends to appear and become more severe with age. Although it’s considered relatively common, it can be more or less dangerous depending on its duration and frequency, so it’s important to be aware of it.
In essence, what happens in sleep apnoea is that the airway becomes obstructed while the patient is asleep. When this happens, air exchange becomes more difficult and breathing is interrupted. A loud snoring noise is also common. If this situation continues for at least ten seconds, it’s technically called ‘apnoea’.
Sleep apnoea can lead to serious pathologies such as pulmonary hypertension or myocarditis, and there are different ranges to determine the severity of an apnoea. If there are between 10 and 20 episodes per night, it’s considered mild; between 20 and 50, moderate; and if there are more than 50, it’s considered severe.
What types of sleep apnoea are there?
There are different types of sleep apnoea: obstructive sleep apnoea, central sleep apnoea and mixed or complex sleep apnoea. The first is the most common (usually the cause of 90% of cases) and is also known as otorhinolaryngological sleep apnoea. The muscles of the soft palate, at the base of the tongue, relax and, as a result, make breathing difficult and cause loud snoring. As the pressure to breathe increases, the diaphragm and chest muscles work harder, disrupting sleep. A person with this type of apnoea may stop breathing for up to 20 seconds.
On the other hand, central sleep apnoea involves the muscles and chest simply ceasing to work. At this point, blood oxygen levels start to drop, triggering signals that alert the brain to wake up in order to breathe. This type of apnoea is more common in people over sixty and is linked to the use of painkillers as well as heart conditions and strokes.
Finally, mixed sleep apnoea is a combination of central and obstructive sleep apnoea. It often starts with the symptoms of central sleep apnoea and then develops an obstructive component.
What are the causes of sleep apnoea?
There are risk factors that can increase the risk of sleep apnoea. Among the causes of sleep apnoea are factors such as the consumption of medication or sedatives, the consumption of alcohol or tobacco, obesity and the accumulation of fat, nasal congestion or hypertrophic tonsils. It should not be overlooked that the consequences can be very serious due to poor quality sleep, as not getting a good night’s rest has a negative effect on our health.
How is sleep apnoea treated?
Before going into how sleep apnoea is treated, it’s important to know that a sleep study test is essential to know what to do about this condition. The test records brain waves, blood oxygen levels and the patient’s movements during sleep.
That said, the most effective treatment is CPAP therapy. CPAP is a device that fits over the patient’s face with a mask and generates pressure that fights airway obstruction during sleep. Although it’s the most effective and common method of treating sleep apnoea, this type of device is also somewhat noisy and uncomfortable.
Another treatment to reduce sleep apnoea is myofunctional therapy, which consists of doing exercises to work on the tone of the muscles of the pharynx and mouth to try to strengthen the muscles and reduce the obstruction. In any case, for proper treatment of sleep apnoea, it’s best to visit a pulmonologist specialising in the disease at the first signs of symptoms.
