Today, I wanted to talk about sleep apnea. Before I talk about that though, I just wanted to say that it’s funny that I should launch a site about sleep and not be able to sleep last night. While last night I was up late it was mainly because I slept earlier and haven’t been following my advice of trying to get into a sleep cycle and it’s fortunate that I don’t have a sleep disorder or at least one that I know of.
If you do though, you need to make sure that you get sleep apnea treatment especially if you have had a sleep apnea diagnosis. I guess that their are three types of sleep apnea:
- Obstructive sleep apnea
- Central sleep apnea, and
- Mixed apnea
While of the three obstructive sleep apnea is the most common. According to American Sleep Apnea Association, sleep apnea is very common and can lead to heart problems, high blood pressure and other related problems.
Basically, what happens is that you stop breathing when you are sleeping. And it’s more common than I thought. Evidently, many many people are affected with it and it often goes undiagnosed.
I also found out that there are sleep apnea treatments that might include sleep apnea surgery if you have severe sleep apnea. As I’ve gotten older, I have started snoring and I guess that could be one of the sleep apnea symptoms. But, how would I know if I had sleep apnea, I’m fast asleep! Maybe I need to look at treatment for sleep apnea or at least go in to my doctor for an evaluation
I know that last night, I just couldn’t sleep because I had so much on my mind, things that I wanted to get done. Usually once, I lay down, I go to sleep like a baby. Speaking of babies, I guess that sleep apnea can affect people of all ages and there is even sleep apnea children affected.
The first step would be to get check out by a doctor. I am not sure if you would have to go to a sleep apnea clinic to figure out if you need treatment of sleep apnea.
As with all medical conditions, it’s probably good also to make some lifestyle changes by incorporating exercise and eating right. I know that I would probably rest better if I lost a few pounds and got in better shape. I’ve been thinking that I need to start by getting on the treadmill and using a heart rate monitor to get my heart in better condition and start drinking more water as opposed to all the diet coke I drink. Another thing I could do is eat better by eating breakfast and less fried food to kind of cleanse my body of all the crap I put into it. I suppose for most of us that might be a tall order because everyone is so busy it’s hard to be healthy.
For most of us too, we probably avoid going to the doctor to get evaluated if we don’t feel to bad. Since there are many sleep apnea study results that say it is pretty common, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that for all I know I might even have a mild case of it.
Athough I saw a picture of a guy using a cpap sleep apnea machine otherwise known as continuous positive airway pressure therapy where the guy is wearing a sleep apnea mask and it looks pretty uncomfortable.
Oh well, let’s hope none of us have sleep apnea and we just are all night owls!