Sleep apnea and snoring
Sleep apnea
A disease that often goes undetected.
Our everyday life presents us with numerous challenges every day: Balancing everyday life, work and family is not always easy. It is all the more important that you have enough energy and strength available to master all of your tasks.
However, sleep apnea can significantly affect your quality of life. Serious illnesses can develop sooner or later.
Microsleep, often a symptom of sleep apnea, can have devastating consequences, especially in traffic.
But you are not alone: according to the latest study *, more than 936 million people are affected worldwide. Many see no other way out than to use a CPAP mask or undergo surgery. There are gentler ways to treat sleep apnea.
* ResMed 2018/“Global Prevalence of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA)”
What happens in the body
Sleep apnea is a serious condition. It is noticeable through irregular snoring and nocturnal pauses in breathing.
While you sleep, your throat muscles relax so much that your upper airways collapse. The result: your breathing stops. This can take anywhere from a few seconds to a minute.
Your brain registers that there is not enough oxygen in the body and sounds the alarm - you wake up without even realizing it. Depending on the severity, breathing pauses can occur several hundred times during the night.
If left untreated, sleep apnea can lead to serious illness.
Symptoms and Consequences
Sleep apnea usually begins gradually over the years. The first symptoms are often unspecific. Heavy snoring can sometimes occur as a preliminary stage.
The first signs can be
- headache
- Difficulty concentrating
- Chronic daytime sleepiness
- Microsleep, e.g. when driving a car
Long-term consequences range up to
- Cardiovascular diseases/infarction
- stroke
- Type 2 diabetes
- depressions
- Erectile dysfunction
snoring
Every second adult is affected.
Regular snoring can significantly affect the quality of your sleep. According to studies, every second adult suffers from it. It affects men more often.
Anyone who snores doesn't notice anything at first. Most of the time, it is the partner who first suffers from the noisy, nocturnal breathing.
What are the causes?
Various factors influence snoring. The following causes are possible:
Constriction of the nose
Misalignment of the jaw
Obesity
Alcohol, medication, or drugs
exhaustion
stress
Good to know: Snoring can be a precursor to sleep apnea. Please contact your doctor if you have one or more of the above symptoms.
Questions about the tendency to fall asleep
How likely is it that you will nod off in the following situations?
When sitting and reading?