Researchers at The University of Queensland have discovered a link between obstructive sleep apnea and an increased risk of developing dementia.
Nov 8, 2022
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A Center for Eye Research Australia study has linked low levels of oxygen in the blood overnight—a common sign of obstructive sleep apnea—with wet age-related macular degeneration.
Dec 4, 2024
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You've finished a workout, so you're hot and drenched with perspiration—but soon you begin to feel cool again. Later, it's a sweltering summer evening and you're finding it hard to sleep, so you kick off the covers.
Oct 16, 2023
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A long-term study of patients who had upper airway surgery has confirmed the benefits for better management of moderate to severe sleep apnea for people who failed to adapt or are not suited to continuous positive pressure ...
Sep 25, 2023
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Researchers from the University of Melbourne have been able to track childhood risk factors in developing obstructive sleep apnea later in life, in the first longitudinal study of its kind.
Sep 25, 2023
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People suffering with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) can reduce their risk of dying from cardiovascular disease if they use a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine at night, according to research presented at ...
Sep 11, 2023
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A treatment for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) can also reduce night-time heartburn, coughing and wheezing according to a study published in ERJ Open Research.
Aug 30, 2023
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Professor Danny Eckert, Director at the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health: Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute Sleep Health Research Program, says his research team has examined shortcomings in some people's ...
Aug 7, 2023
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A machine commonly used for pain relief has shown to improve breathing in patients with obstructive sleep apnea, a clinical trial has found.
Aug 3, 2023
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Flinders University experts are working on better solutions for sleep apnea to ward off a range of health risks, including cognitive decline.
Jun 8, 2023
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Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) or obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is the most common type of sleep apnea and is caused by obstruction of the upper airway. It is characterized by repetitive pauses in breathing during sleep, despite the effort to breathe, and is usually associated with a reduction in blood oxygen saturation. These pauses in breathing, called apneas (literally, "without breath"), typically last 20 to 40 seconds.
The individual with OSA is rarely aware of having difficulty breathing, even upon awakening. It is recognized as a problem by others witnessing the individual during episodes or is suspected because of its effects on the body (sequelae). OSA is commonly accompanied with snoring.
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. Sufferers who generally sleep alone are often unaware of the condition, without a regular bed-partner to notice and make them aware of their symptoms.
As the muscle tone of the body ordinarily relaxes during sleep, and the airway at the throat is composed of walls of soft tissue, which can collapse, it is not surprising that breathing can be obstructed during sleep. Although a very minor degree of OSA is considered to be within the bounds of normal sleep, and many individuals experience episodes of OSA at some point in life, a small percentage of people are afflicted with chronic, severe OSA.
Many people experience episodes of OSA for only a short period of time. This can be the result of an upper respiratory infection that causes nasal congestion, along with swelling of the throat, or tonsillitis that temporarily produces very enlarged tonsils. The Epstein-Barr virus, for example, is known to be able to dramatically increase the size of lymphoid tissue during acute infection, and OSA is fairly common in acute cases of severe infectious mononucleosis. Temporary spells of OSA syndrome may also occur in individuals who are under the influence of a drug (such as alcohol) that may relax their body tone excessively and interfere with normal arousal from sleep mechanisms.
This text uses material from Wikipedia licensed under CC BY-SA
