Wake Up to Sleep Apnea Dangers Annoying disorder can be life-threatening, too By Robert Preidt HealthScout Reporter SUNDAY, Nov. 19 (HealthScout) -- Loud snoring may make you the object of jokes, but it's really nothing to laugh about. It could be an indication you have sleep apnea, a condition that causes you to stop breathing while you sleep. Apnea can seriously affect your health and quality of life and, experts say, even can kill you. Snoring is a primary sign of the malady, says Dr. Mansoor Madani, a sleep apnea specialist who is director of the Center for Corrective Surgery in Bala Cynwyd, Pa. "This is a very serious situation, and you should do something about it," Madani says. "It's deadly, it's dangerous." About 38,000 Americans die every year from complications of sleep apnea, according to the American Sleep Apnea Association. But products to stop snoring sleep apnea cause more than 12 million Americans suffer from the disorder, and an estimated 10 million more remain undiagnosed, the group believes. The most common type of sleep apnea -- called obstructive -- occurs because the soft tissue in the rear of the throat collapses and closes the airway, forcing a person to stop breathing repeatedly during sleep. But sleep apnea also can occur because of a brain-related problem -- referred to as central sleep apnea -- or because of a combination of the two causes. More than sleep can be affected, however. Madani says researchers have found a correlation between sleep apnea and heart attacks, stroke, depression, impotence, hypertension, memory loss and chronic fatigue syndrome. Dr. Robert Thornton, co-medical director of the Florida Hospital Sleep Laboratories, says the disorder frequently goes undiagnosed. "A lot of people who have terrible apnea don't sleep apnea cause sleep apnea cause know their sleep is affected by it," Thornton says. "They go to bed and they're so sleepy they feel as if they're sleeping through the night, and yet their sleep is constantly fragmented." Often it takes someone else complaining about their snoring for a person to realize he or she might have a problem, he says. Or, people with sleep apnea sometimes are alerted by symptoms of sleep deprivation. "They're waking in the morning and they feel like they've not slept well," Thornton says. "They don't feel rested." "During the daytime, they suffer symptoms of sleep deprivation," he says. "They are sleepy, irritable, grumpy, can't concentrate [and] they have trouble with their attention span." Treating sleep apnea often starts with lifestyle changes, such as losing weight, sleeping on your side or avoiding alcohol. Sometimes surgery is suggested to reduce the snoring cures sleep apnea cause amount of soft
