At least 8 hours of sleep per day is essential for anybody to refresh your “Head Quarter”: is a wise saying. But sound sleep can be lethal sometimes if you suffer from sleep apnoea: a type of respiration disorder during sleep. It is now recognized that 2-4% of the middle aged population suffer from recurrent upper airway obstruction during sleep due to ensuing sleep  fragmentation they experience daytime sleepiness, especially in monotonous situations, and this results in a threefold increased risk of road traffic accidents and a nine fold  increased risk of single vehicle accidents.

The problem results from recurrent occlusion of the pharynx during sleep, usually at the level of the soft palate. On inspiration the pressure in the pharynx is sub atmospheric. During wakefulness, upper airway dilating muscles contract actively during each inspiration to preserve airway patency.during sleep, muscle tone declines and the ability of the airway dilating muscles to maintain pharyngeal patency falls. If the obstruction is incomplete, turbulent flow and vibration occur, resulting in snoring. If narrowing progresses to the point of occlusion, sleeping person increases the breathing effort to try to breathe until the increased effort transiently awakens him. Then a series of deep breaths are taken before the person rapidly returns to sleep, snores and becomes apnoeic once more. This recurrent cycle of apnoea, awakening, apnoea, awakening etc. may repeat itself many hundreds of times per night and result in severe sleep fragmentation. The awakenings are associated with surges in blood pressure which may increase the risk of sustained hypertension, coronary events and stroke. The complete narrowing of the upper airway can even lead to sudden respiratory failure resulting to death.

Predisposing factors to the sleep apnoea include being male, which doubles the risk, probably due to a testosterone (male hormone) effect on the upper airway, and obesity, found in about half the people effected, because pharyngeal fat deposits tend to narrow the throat, nasal obstruction can further exacerbate the problem. The condition is often familial, and in these families the maxilla and mandible (bones of the face!) are back-set, narrowing the upper airway. Alcohol and sedatives predispose to snoring and apnoeas by relaxing the upper airway dilating muscles.

Excessive daytime sleepiness is the principal symptom and snoring is virtually universal. The person usually feels that he or she has been asleep all night but wakes unfreshed. Bed partners report loud snoring in all body positions and will often have noticed multiple breathing pause (apnoeas). Difficulties with concentration, impaired work performance, depression, irritability etc. are common features.

Facing this problem? Sleep labs are there for you. They give therapy named Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) through a nasal mask every night at home. Beside this other predisposing factors are also advised to reduce anyway…

Or you can find out any Japanese sleeping club which is providing sound sleep at a rate of $10 per hour, to their clients!

Will it be so expensive in comparison to passing a sleepless night due to apnoea? …