What is sleep apnea?
Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder where pauses in breathing occur and cause symptoms. A pause in breathing is called an apnea. The most common reason for an apnea is a physical block to airflow when the tissues in the throat prevent normal breathing. This is especially common among overweight people but also normal weight people suffer from it because of structural reasons.
The heart of a sleep apnea patient is under a lot of stress during the night as it tries to compensate for the blood oxygen desaturation by increasing the heart rate. Instead of resting, the heart is stressed. This can lead to even a heart attack. It is estimated that one third of all heart attacks in Finland happen during the night.
When a person is suffering from apneas, sleep becomes shallower. A sleep apnea patient can wake up hundreds of times during the night. Poor quality of sleep leads to low efficiency when awake.
Symptoms of sleep apnea include for example snoring, daytime tiredness and pauses in breathing during sleep. Populations at risk for sleep apnea include overweight people, smokers, alcohol consumers and people with allergic rhinitis. Also people who do not notice any symptoms can suffer from sleep apnea. In many cases the people who suffer from the illness adapt to it and think of the symptoms as parts of their personalities. This does not have to be the case; the problem is treatable.
It is estimated that there are 150.000 people suffering from sleep apnea in Finland. If you suspect that you are suffering from sleep apnea, contact your doctor.
Medical centres and health centres offering our sleep apnea analysis service are found from our list of clients.
How is sleep apnea treated?
Losing weight is the most important form of treatment for sleep apnea. Sometimes the symptoms are entirely removed after the loss of weight and in most cases the symptoms are greatly relieved. Some of the patients experience apneas only when lying on their backs. In these cases the patients is simply not allowed to sleep on their backs.
In the more severe cases a CPAP-device (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) is needed to prevent the patient’s throat from blocking. With this device the patient breathes air with a slightly higher pressure. Structural abnormalities can also be treated surgically and with today’s methods many patients are completely relieved of their symptoms. After years of daytime tiredness an improvement in the quality of sleep is very rewarding - a new life can begin.
Even without sleep apnea just snoring weakens the quality of sleep – both the partner and the one who snores are disturbed. Heat treatment to the soft palate (RFA-treatment) is a modern way of treating snoring effectively. During the operation heat is applied to the tissues in the roof of the mouth thus stiffening them. Local anaesthesia is used and one or two treatments are usually enough. The operation is quite simple for the patient and there is usually no need for sick leave. RFA-treatments in Finland are available at medical centres listed in www.kuorsaus.info
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