Sleep apnea & Snoring
Is sleep apnea the cause of your snoring?
“Honey, you snore!” The number of people who have heard this sentence from their partner is high. For the partner, this behavior can be stressful in the long run, especially due to lack of sleep, for the snorer, it is usually harmless. But watch out: Have you been told that you sometimes have breathing pauses? Do you feel constantly tired in the morning, even though you always go to bed early? Then it’s better to find out whether there could be an underlying medical condition behind it.
Snoring & sleep apnea - how are they related?
Snoring does not always mean sleep apnea. But the distinction is often difficult to make. This is because both snoring and sleep apnea are caused by the same initial condition – a narrowing of the airways. Snoring is therefore indirectly related to the lungs, as is often assumed. The difference between regular snoring and sleep apnea is that with sleep apnea, either your airways are closed and your breathing stops several times during the night.
What happens with sleep apnea?
According to reports from the Deutschestiftungschlaf.org , doctors distinguish between two types of sleep apnea.
In OSA, the throat muscles relax during sleep which blocks the upper airway. This is how loud snoring and breathing occur. A reclined jaw can also be the cause of obstructive sleep apnea. OSA is the most common form of sleep apnea.
The regular flow of breath is stopped at least 15 times per hour in OSA. At this stage, your heart starts racing to wake your body up. That’s because it’s the only way it can get oxygen back quickly. In most cases, you will not remember this protective reaction of your body.
In Central Sleep Apnea (CSA), breathing stops even though the airways are completely open. In this case, the signal that gives our brain a sign to breathe is blocked for a respective period of at least ten seconds. In this case, you then wake up by the “SOS sign” that your body sets in motion inside.
CSA is less common than OSA. If sleep apnea is diagnosed, the case of OSA is around 80%, while CSA is up to 20% – according to a published text by Deutschstiftungschlaf.org
How dangerous is sleep apnea?
There is no getting around a medical examination for the diagnosis of sleep apnea, and a visit to the doctor should not be delayed under any circumstances – because sleep apnea is a life-threatening condition.
Due to ignorance, loud snoring is not taken seriously enough to have it examined. But this can have serious consequences.
The deep sleep phase is very important for our body. If it is lost over a long period of time, this not only means that we are restless during the day and have difficulty concentrating. If left untreated, sleep apnea and sleep deprivation can serious consequences:
Constant fatigue often means that everyday pleasures can no longer be enjoyed properly. People are unbalanced and irritable. If this condition persists, it can lead to serious depression in the worst case.
Too little sleep makes you unfocused. This increases the risk of accidents in everyday life and at work. Within the car traffic, it can come to a microsleep phase and this is life-threatening for you and your fellow men.
According to studies, the risk of heart disease and heart attack increases significantly with sleep apnea. Many people suffering from heart failure have also been found to have sleep apnea and a connection between them has been suspected.
According to experts, high blood pressure is also directly related to sleep apnea. As soon as breathing stops, the oxygen level also decreases at the same time. As a result, too little oxygen is delivered to the brain and heart. Our body tries to compensate for this by increasing hormones, but at the same time our blood vessels constrict, and blood pressure increases.
Type-2 diabetes is very common in people suffering from sleep apnea, according to studies. A connection was also studied and confirmed in this case. People who suffer not only from sleep apnea but also from obesity at the same time have an increased risk.
What causes lead to sleep apnea?
A severe brain injury, such as a stroke or tumor, is only one of many causes that can lead to sleep apnea. It triggers a specific form of central sleep apnea, known as Cheyne-Stokes-Atmung (CSA). It is uncommon for heart failure to be suspected first before CSA is accurately diagnosed because its signs, such as shallow, irregular breathing, are very similar.
Nicht immer kann die Ursache einer Schlafapnoe festgestellt werden
Die CSA kann auch nur für eine gewisse Zeit auftreten. Das ist bei Bergsportlern der Fall, die sich über 4.500 Höhenmetern bewegen. Zur unregelmäßigen Atmung kommt hier oft auch zu Langsames oder das Gegenteil, eine Hyperventilation dazu.
Obwohl die Medizin bereits weit fortgeschritten ist, ist es nicht ungewöhnlich, dass bei nicht einigen Menschen zwar eine Schlafapnoe eindeutig festgestellt werden kann, jedoch nicht gleichzeitig auch ihre Ursache herausgefunden wird. Dennoch steht selbstverständlich die Therapie und Wiederherstellung der Gesundheit immer im Vordergrund.
How can you recognize sleep apnea?
Anyone who suffers from symptoms such as constant fatigue, daytime sleepiness, a tendency to microsleep, and wakes up in the morning with the feeling that they have not had a restful night’s sleep, but instead feel as if they have been wiped out, or who snores heavily at night according to their partner or makes noticeable breathing pauses, should immediately talk to their doctor. This will further reduce the risk of blood high pressure, or diabetes.
A clear warning sign of possible sleep apnea is persistent fatigue during the day, often accompanied by concentration problems and fatigue despite enough hours of sleep. If this condition is accompanied by loud snoring, a diagnosis is recommended in this case. But don’t be misled: even if you know for sure that you don’t snore, you can still suffer from sleep apnea. Most commonly, this can happen with Central
Sleep Apnea.
Getting clarity about his health condition is the best thing you can do now. If you suspect sleep apnea, you should see a doctor. The doctor will most likely refer you to a sleep lab, which will evaluate your sleep patterns and make a diagnosis.
Sleepiz allows you to get more clarity in the first step and to be prepared for a consultation with the doctor. Especially people who don’t have all the typical symptoms – but still suspect that they have a sleep disorder – can use Sleepiz to get more clarity.
Sleepiz is a portable wireless measuring device. It analyzes your breathing patterns during the night and can identify breathing interruptions. Sleepiz is a class IIa medical device.
Sleepiz does not require any complicated installation. After receiving the device, you simply place it on your bedside table for three consecutive nights and press a button before going to bed. Sleepiz monitors your breathing throughout the night. The data recorded includes your
- Sleep patterns
- Sleep and wake phases
- Breathing and pulse rate
All this happens completely contact-free through harmless electromagnetic waves. You can wear your nightdress as usual. Wiring like in a sleep lab is not necessary. The innovative device evaluates your data using an algorithm that has been clinically proven to be accurate. The data is automatically uploaded to a cloud platform. After use, you simply send Sleepiz back. If the end result doesn’t convince you, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee. All transmitted data is stored securely on a Europäischen Rechenzentrum verwahrt.
- Convenient measurement in your own bed
- Cost-effective due to short-term rental instead of purchase
- Very easy and simple installation
- Wireless measurement
- Fast and accurate results with high-accuracy medical standards
- Secure data transmission and storage
- Additional possibility of sleep coaching to discuss the results and sleep tips with Sleepiz expert coaches
- Free delivery and return
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Was tun gegen Schnarchen?
Bist du Schnarcher, musst du zunächst den Grund deines Schnarchens feststellen lassen. Hierfür stehen dir heutzutage eine ganze Reihe an Anti-Schnarch-Therapien zur Verfügung. Hat dein Schnarchen nachweislich keine gesundheitlichen Gründe, können beispielsweise zahnmedizinische Hilfsmittel zum Erfolg führen.
Viele Wege können zum Ziel eines “Schnarch-Stopps” führen
So stehen dir nach der Untersuchung durch einen Zahn- oder Kieferspezialisten unter anderem diese Möglichkeiten zur Verfügung:
- Gaumenspange
- Schnarchbandage
- Mundvorhofplatte
- Kiefer-Protrusionsschiene
- Schnarchschiene
Die genannten Utensilien verfügen über unterschiedliche Behandlungs- beziehungsweise Wirkweisen. Jedes von ihnen fördert jedoch auf seine eigene Art die ungestörte Nasenatmung während des Schlafes und verhindern einen Verschluss der Atemwege.
Nasensprays nur bei sehr leichtem Schnarchen
Darüber hinaus gibt es auch diverse Atemtherapie-Maßnahmen, die du erlernen kannst, um dein Schnarchen zu stoppen. Befeuchtende Nasensprays oder -tropfen aus der Apotheke können in einigen Fällen bei sehr leichtem Schnarchen eine leichte Linderung bringen. Eine Schlafapnoe sollte jedoch in jedem Fall ausgeschlossen werden, bevor du andere Therapieformen in Erwägung ziehst.
Any questions?
Want to get more information about Sleepiz? Nothing could be easier! Contact us and our experts will take the time to answer all your questions free of charge.
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