- Sleep apnea is a common sleep disorder affecting up to 28% of middle-aged men and in a recent study up to 80% of truck drivers.
- An apnea is defined as cessation of breath that lasts at least 10 seconds while asleep. Typically, it may be closer to 30 seconds and it is not unusual for patients to have events lasting over a minute. In some severe cases, patients will have over 100 events per hour of apnea.
- Insomnia may be defined as repeated difficulty with initiating sleep, maintaining sleep, a final awakening that occurs much earlier than desired, sleep that is non-restorative or of poor quality that occurs despite adequate time and opportunity for falling asleep and results in daytime impairment.
- Some patients suffer with insomnia as a result of frequent wakings from Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Studies show that 50% of patients with proven Sleep Disordered Breathing have complaints of insomnia.
- We spend about 1/3 of our lives sleeping and yet up until the 1950's, this part of our lives was largely ignored as non-important time.
- OSA (obstructive sleep apnea) is associated with increased motor vehicle accidents, job injuries, hypertension, stroke, arrhythmias, diabetes, depression, impotence, cognitive impairment and much more.
- The most common symptoms of OSA are loud snoring and excessive daytime sleepiness. If you are male with a neck of 17inches or more or female 16inches or more with the above two symptoms you are very likely to have OSA. It can be life threatening.
- Often medical insurance will cover the cost of much of the treatments for Sleep Disorders.
- Some patients are helped to improve their sleep using behavioral approaches such as "sleep hygiene" techniques, nasal dilators both mechanical and medicinal or even techniques to keep them off their backs during sleep.
