Cardiology

Creating a remote sensor to detect health troubles

A Cornell doctoral student is building a company based on a radio-based technology that could sense cardiac and respiratory troubles for patients without the need for them to wear a bulky monitor or skin electrodes. SensVita, ...

Health

Does how loud you snore matter to your health?

Snoring is often a sign of a very serious condition known as obstructive sleep apnea, a common disorder marked by loud snoring and stops and restarts in breathing. Until now it was thought that the louder the snore, the worse ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Hope for treating sleep disorders, no pills required

Are sleeping pills the only solution for insomnia? Not according to Flinders University's Dr. Alexander Sweetman, who says that using self-guided digital behavioral therapy is an alternative solution that should be considered.

Sleep disorders

Researchers explore the science of sleep

In a world first, Australian sleep experts were given just eight weeks to develop and run a sleep treatment program that diagnosed and treated more than 30 volunteers and achieved a success rate greater than 80%

Neuroscience

Sleep apnea symptoms linked to memory and thinking problems

People who experience sleep apnea may be more likely to also have memory or thinking problems, according to a preliminary study that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 76th Annual Meeting taking place ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Childhood tonsillectomy not linked to obesity in adulthood

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Soroka University Medical Center researchers have found that tonsillectomy in children with obstructive sleep apnea does not increase the risk of obesity in adulthood.

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Sleep apnea

Sleep apnea (or sleep apnoea in British English) is a sleep disorder characterized by pauses in breathing during sleep. Each episode, called an apnea (Greek: ἄπνοια (ápnoia), from α- (a-), privative, πνέειν (pnéein), to breathe), lasts long enough so that one or more breaths are missed, and such episodes occur repeatedly throughout sleep. The standard definition of any apneic event includes a minimum 10 second interval between breaths, with either a neurological arousal (a 3-second or greater shift in EEG frequency, measured at C3, C4, O1, or O2), a blood oxygen desaturation of 3-4% or greater, or both arousal and desaturation. Sleep apnea is diagnosed with an overnight sleep test called a polysomnogram, or a "Sleep Study".

Clinically significant levels of sleep apnea are defined as five or more episodes per hour of any type of apnea (from the polysomnogram). There are three distinct forms of sleep apnea: central, obstructive, and complex (i.e., a combination of central and obstructive) constituting 0.4%, 84% and 15% of cases respectively. Breathing is interrupted by the lack of respiratory effort in central sleep apnea; in obstructive sleep apnea, breathing is interrupted by a physical block to airflow despite respiratory effort. In complex (or "mixed") sleep apnea, there is a transition from central to obstructive features during the events themselves.

Regardless of type, the individual with sleep apnea is rarely aware of having difficulty breathing, even upon awakening. Sleep apnea is recognized as a problem by others witnessing the individual during episodes or is suspected because of its effects on the body (sequelae). Symptoms may be present for years (or even decades) without identification, during which time the sufferer may become conditioned to the daytime sleepiness and fatigue associated with significant levels of sleep disturbance.

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