What Is The Cause of Sleep Apnea?
Article by Rupert Malone
Before we get to the cause of Sleep Apnea, let me first describe what Sleep Apnea is, just so that we know what we are talking about.
Sleep Apnea is a disorder that typically causes a pause in the sufferer’s breathing while they are asleep. It is a common problem that is mostly confined to adults, although not entirely so. The word apnea is used to describe a period of time when someone’s breathing stops, or is noticeably reduced. Typically, an apnea is when someone either stops breathing completely, or takes less than 25% of what would be their normal breath (for a period of 10 seconds or more).
One of the main symptoms of Sleep Apnea is often noisy snoring (something that no one wants to be accused of), but sufferers of Sleep Apnea how more to worry about than an elbow in the ribs from an irate partner. It can increase the chances of more frightening problems, including:
High blood pressure.
Heart and circulatory problems
Stroke
Type 2 Diabetes
Asthma (may worsen)
Kidney failure
Liver damage
Peripheral nerve damage
Headaches
Epilepsy
Complications during pregnancy
Eye problems (varied)
Depression
So there really is a lot more to Sleep Apnea than just rattling a few windows – and your partner’s nerves – with the volume of your snoring.
What are the causes of Sleep Apnea? Sadly it is not problem that can be pinned down to just one definitive answer. The causes are many and varied, it could be caused by something as simple as the sufferer catching a common cold, but other reasons include, to name but a few:
Sinusitis
Obesity
Enlarged tonsils or adenoids
An abnormality in the airways, the nose or the throat
Smoking
Alcohol
If you think that you might be suffering from Sleep Apnea, I would recommend paying a visit to your doctor. It might be cured by something as simple as going on a diet and losing a little weight, or cutting back on the beers and cutting out the cigarettes altogether. It won’t be this simple for all sufferers, but a visit to a health care professional is certainly a step in the right direction and could set you on the road to recovery, meaning that you won’t have to loose anymore sleep worrying about the possible dangers of Sleep Apnea and your partner won’t have to loose any more sleep listening to it’s symptoms when you do finally nod off.
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