Doctors can never detect sleep apnea in their patients through regular visitations and even blood tests. A person suffering from this disorder is unaware that he/she has it since it happens during sleep. Normally, a person asleep breathes continuously without pauses throughout the night. But a person with sleep apnea will stop breathing up to 500 times per night with an interval of around 30 seconds. With this disorder, the respiratory system narrows, thus limiting the amount of oxygen intake to the lungs. It eventually lowers the blood oxygen levels to the brain then prompting the brain to breathe again.
To determine if a person has sleep apnea and what type it is, a polysomnography (PSG) or sleep study is performed as a tool in sleep medicine. As each type has different means of treatment or management, it is best to understand each one. Here are the most common types of this sleep disorder:
Obstructive Sleep Apnea
The most common and yet most severe type would be obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). This occurs when the brain sends the signal to the muscles making an effort to to take a breath, but do not succeed because the airway becomes obstructed and prevents an adequate flow of air. Thus, the person with this type of disorder will literally stop breathing during sleep with loud chronic snoring. It happens due to muscles in the soft palate, base of the tongue and the uvula blocks the airways then collapses then breathing stops straining the chest and diaphragm until uncorked. Snoring can actually aid to cause OSA because the vibration can swell the throat tissues but people who snore do not necessarily develop this disorder.
OSA is usually present to overweight male aging 35 to 50 years, person who has small jaw, large tongue or tonsils, blocked nasal passages and narrow airways. Obesity can also increase the risk of developing OSA, because of the fat tissues in the airway. One factor in developing OSA is male sex hormones because it can usually change the size and structure of the upper airway. Other factors are pregnancy, family history and smoking. Weight gain during pregnancy can affect the breathing patterns during sleep while smoking increases the risk of developing OSA because it can swell and narrow of the upper airway. On the other hand, alcohol, tranquilizers, sleeping pills and antihistamines intake can make OSA worst since this substances cause the neck muscles to relax and lowers the nervous system’s “respiratory drive” and soon reduce breathing rate. Moreover, this sleeping disorder can increase risk of having a cardiovascular disease.
Central Sleep Apnea
Cheyne-Stokes respiration or Central Sleep Apnea (CSA) is an abnormal pattern of breathing and a less common type of sleep disorder. This occurs when the brain does not send the signal to the muscles to take a breath, and there is no muscular effort to take a breath. This condition is when airway is open but the respiratory muscles are not regulated properly and may occur to an individual with CSA if either asleep or awake.
This irregularities cause variations in the level of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the blood brought to the lungs. When the CO2 in the blood rise, the brain responds and increase the rate of respiration. When blood level falls again, respiration will slow down. CO2 and breathing’s interact normally by maintaining CO2 level with limitations. High CO2 levels causes rapid breathing characterized by hyperventilation and eventually lowers the CO2. As the neurological controls for breathing malfunctions, it fails to give signal to inhale. Thus, breathing stops or becomes slower during sleep.
Effects of CSA on the body depend on how long is the period of failure to breathe. Hence, if not managed it may cause sudden death and develop other fatal illnesses such as coronary artery disease.
Mixed Sleep Apnea
Mixed Sleep Apnea also known as complex sleep apnea is a combination of the obstructive and the central types. Episodes of mixed sleep apnea begin with a reduced central respiratory drive, followed by obstruction. When OSA of a person is severe, it usually develops CSA. In some people, they experience OSA in long episodes intercepted by brief period of CSA.
