Good sleep is essential for good health. But there are many people who do not sleep well at all. According to a study by the National Sleep Foundation in the US, 60 percent of adults have trouble sleeping two or more nights a week. More than 40 percent of people suffer from excessive daytime sleepiness for at least two days a month and are hindered in their daily activities. There is 20 percent of people have such problems two days a week. At least 400,000 people in the United States suffer from regular sleep problems. Among children, this rate is 2-3 percent. However, 10-20 percent of children who snore have sleep apnea.
Apnea means breathlessness. It disturbs sleep. The comfort of life is lost. There are three types of sleep apnea or sleep apnea—1. Obstructive in the nose and throat, 2. Brain-controlled and 3. Mixed reactions. Obstructive apnea is the most common of the three types. If apnea is not treated, the patient stops breathing repeatedly for a period of time. Sometimes this happens hundreds of times throughout the night. Sometimes again for 1-2 minutes. If there is an apnea in the brain for any reason, the muscles that do breathing are deprived of signals. Mixed causes involve both processes simultaneously. Each time there is apnea, the brain wakes up the patient in a short period of time.
What happens if you don’t sleep enough?
When sleep is less, the process of creating new memories is hindered, said Matthew Walker, professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of California and author of the book “Why We Sleep”. He said, if sleep is low, the harmful protein called beta-amyloid is produced in the brain. This protein is associated with Alzheimer’s disease. When we sleep, our bodies remove beta-amyloid and other such harmful substances from the brain. Therefore, if sleep is less, these proteins and such harmful substances that cause Alzheimer’s disease will accumulate in the brain. Men who sleep only 5-6 hours a night have lower levels of the testosterone hormone than those who are ten years older.
The immune system’s lack of sleep also affects the body. 70 percent of the body’s cancer-fighting cells die after just 4-5 hours of sleep a night. In this way, less sleep creates the risk of various types of cancer like colon cancer, prostate cancer, and breast cancer. The fear is so high that the World Health Organization has decided to label any night shift work as a carcinogen.
Because the heart rate decreases during deep sleep, blood pressure drops. As a result, blood pressure increases. Lack of sleep increases the risk of fatal strokes and heart attacks by 200 times.
Lack of sleep can lead to problems like heart attack, heart disease, irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, stroke, and diabetes. A hormone called cortisol is released when there is less sleep. It breaks down the skin’s collagen. Those who sleep less than 6 hours a day are 30 percent more likely to fall asleep than others. Loss of memory, loss of normal rhythm of life, forgetting disease, insomnia, and hallucinations can be various types of complications.
Symptoms: Loud snoring in obstructive sleep. The snoring pattern is abnormal. Snoring intermittently. Also excessive daytime sleepiness. hallucinations Depression, moodiness, high blood pressure, weakness of the heart, obesity, mental illness, bleeding in the brain, and various heart diseases, etc. can appear.
Diagnosis: Special sleep laboratories are available to monitor different levels of sleep, diagnose apnea, extent, and severity and treat it accordingly.
Treatment: To treat this disease, excess weight needs to be reduced first; Avoiding alcohol, smoking, drinking too much tea and coffee, and taking sleeping pills; Sleeping on one side should be practiced. In addition, it is important to take specific treatment for nasal congestion. CPAP or Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) is very effective. In this, a mask is worn during sleep and the respiratory system is kept open by blowing high-pressure air. Different sizes of masks and different levels of pressure are required for different diseases. It is necessary to take the help of a doctor to determine the size and pressure level of the mask. There are devices used in the oral cavity to keep the mouth open. Treatment may require an ENT operation called UPPP i.e. Uvulopalato pharyngoplasty. In this, the surgeon removes the soft tissues of the uvula or all of the tongue, palate, and pharynx at the back of the throat to remove the obstruction of the respiratory system. The nature of sleep, eye movements, muscle activity, heart rate, respiratory effort, air velocity, and blood oxygen levels are used to diagnose sleep apnea. These elements are monitored. In this way, as sleep apnea can be diagnosed, its depth can also be understood. Sometimes treatment can be started from the first night.
For related reasons, it is important for the general public to know the symptoms of sleep apnea, and primary care physicians should also ask patients how they are sleeping. Are they sleeping safely? Then it will be possible to protect ourselves from many types of diseases.