CPAP: Breathing For You While You Sleep

CPAP means Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. We believe that many people die in their sleep because of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) but the family thinks they died in their sleep of a heart attack.

If someone has sleep apnea, and many do and don’t know it, they suffer from very irregular breathing during sleep. This can and does cause death in sleep.

The trouble is most people who have sleep apnea don’t know it. They just are not aware that they have a condition that is dangerous and sometimes fatal.

What To Do?

If you suspect irregular sleep patterns, get an overnight appointment with a sleep lab and make arrangements to go there overnight to sleep while the lab technicians monitor you. They can determine right away if you have sleep apnea. It’s a problem that affects both men and women.

If you do have sleep apnea, the only good and immediate solution is to get a prescription for a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine. Medicare pays for it if you use the machine regularly for sleep therapy. It can save your life while giving much needed rest.

Some people get the CPAP machine and then won’t use it. In this case you pay for it. Medicare won’t pay. Your sleep lab doctor keeps records of the usage and reports to Medicare.

Snoring can be a sign of sleep apnea but it is not always an indicator. Waking up tired or waking numerous times during the night can also be a sign of sleep apnea.

People with sleep apnea can actually stop breathing up to 400 times throughout the night. These interruptions last 10 to 30 seconds and are often followed by a snort when breathing resumes. This seriously breaks your sleep cycle and leaves you tired the next day. Get help: Sleep apnea is very serious!

Do You Have High Blood Pressure Or Sleep Apnea?

I suspect that many of the millions of people who are faithfully taking high blood pressure medicine don’t really have high blood pressure. They may have instead sleep apnea.

In addition to high blood pressure, sleep apnea can lead to a host of health problems including acid reflux, frequent nighttime urination, memory loss, stroke, depression, diabetes or even heart attack.

I used to wake up with very high blood pressure and had to hurriedly take blood pressure medicine. One day a cardiologist suggested that I be tested for sleep apnea.

Well, the lights came on. I was tested at the sleep lab and found for sure that I had OSA. I got the CPAP machine and found that I did not awaken with high blood pressure as long as I used the machine by wearing my mask each night. I rested much better, four to five hours at a time, and didn’t wake up for frequent nighttime urination.

Follow-up reading suggested that a chin strap worn while sleeping would stop the mouth from falling open, stop the snoring and possibly take the place of the CPAP machine. The chin strap prevents the jaw, throat and tongue muscles from relaxing by holding the mouth closed while sleeping, therefore there is no obstruction of the airway passage.

I have tried a chin strap while napping and found it very helpful. However I am not quite ready to exchange my CPAP machine for a chin strap. The CPAP machine provides forced air at the nose. I am at least suspicious that the simple chin strap may be a low cost substitute for the CPAP machine.

The whole idea here is that if you can stop the snoring by holding your mouth shut with a chin strap, you can stop or alleviate OSA. I am not prepared to tell you this is true, but I suspect it.

A recent case study published by Eastern Virginia Medical School’s Division of Sleep Medicine in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine concludes that wearing a simple chin strap while you sleep can be an effective treatment for OSA.

Snoring reduction may help increase oxygen levels, improve REM (deep) sleep, diminish daytime fatigue and lower blood pressure.

According to WebMD.com, sleep apnea can cause or contribute to:

• High blood pressure. The frequent nighttime wakings cause hormonal systems to go into overdrive and results in high blood pressure levels at night. Low blood-oxygen levels, caused by the cutoff of oxygen, may also contribute to hypertension in people with sleep apnea.

• Heart disease. People with obstructive sleep apnea are more likely to suffer heart attacks and die in the middle of the night. The causes may be low oxygen or the stress of waking up often during sleep. Stroke and atrial fibrillation — a problem with the rhythm of the heartbeat — are also associated with obstructive sleep apnea.

• Type 2 diabetes. Sleep apnea is very common among people with type 2 diabetes; up to 80 percent of diabetics have some obstructive sleep apnea. Obesity is a common risk factor for both disorders. Although studies haven’t shown a clear link between sleep apnea alone and type 2 diabetes, sleep deprivation can cause insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes.

• Weight gain. Adding weight increases your risk of sleep apnea; up to two-thirds of people with sleep apnea are severely overweight. Obstructive sleep apnea can often be cured if you lose enough weight, but that can be tough to do. Being overweight causes fatty deposits in the neck that block breathing at night. In turn, sleep apnea impairs the body’s endocrine systems, causing the release of the hormone ghrelin. That makes you crave carbohydrates and sweets. Also, people with sleep apnea who are tired and sleepy all the time may have lower metabolism and that can contribute to weight gain.

• Adult asthma. Although the link to obstructive sleep apnea is not proven, people who are treated for sleep apnea may find they have fewer asthma attacks.

• GERD. There’s no proof that sleep apnea causes acid reflux, but many people with sleep apnea complain of acid reflux.

• Car accidents. Daytime grogginess can put people with sleep apnea at increased risk of falling asleep behind the wheel. People with sleep apnea are up to five times more likely than normal sleepers to have traffic accidents.

Tap Water Can Make You Color Blind

Plastic in your tap water can impair your color vision and cause other permanent eye problems.

When a research team assessed visual functioning among a group of people born between 1969 and 1983 to parents residing in eight towns in the Cape Cod region of Massachusetts, they found a variety of health problems. The towns all had the chemical solvent tetrachloroethylene (PCE) in their drinking water because of pipes outfitted with a vinyl liner that was improperly cured. Previous studies led by Ann Aschengrau, professor of epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH), have found associations between PCE exposure and cancer, as well as reproductive and developmental outcomes. Increases in the risks of breast cancer and certain birth defects were seen in the team’s prior studies.

In testing vision, Aschengrau and colleagues found that people exposed to PCE made more major errors in color discrimination than those not exposed. The levels of color confusion were greatest among people with high exposure levels.

PCE previously has been implicated in deficiencies in color discrimination, mainly among adults who encounter the toxin in the workplace. The new study is the first to assess “the associations between prenatal and early childhood exposure to PCE and adult vision,” Aschengrau says. The findings suggest that “the effects of early life PCE-exposure on color discrimination may be irreversible.”

The Fastest Way For Men To Improve Their Relationships With Women

Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, once famously asked, “What do women want?” Well, researchers in Arkansas believe that they have the answer. And men would do well to listen.

What women want, if these scientists are to be believed, is for men to get more sleep. Their studyshows that a single night of not getting enough sleep leads men to think women have more romantic interest in them than they really do. In addition, these sleep-deprived males over-perceive women’s interest in and intent to have sex.

And those perceptions are dead wrong.

According to the scientists, sleep deprivation causes impairment of the brain’s frontal lobe. That messes with your ability to make good decisions and understand your own risky behavior. It also warps your moral reasoning and suppresses your inhibitions.

“Our findings here are similar to those from studies using alcohol, which similarly inhibits the frontal lobe,” says researcher Jennifer Peszka, associate professor of psychology at Hendrix College in Conway, Ark., who led the study. “Sleep deprivation could have unexpected effects on perceptual experiences related to mating and dating that could lead people to engage in sexual decisions that they might otherwise not when they are well-rested.  Poor decision-making in these areas can lead to problems such as sexual harassment, unplanned pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and relationship conflicts which are all factors that have serious medical, educational and economic implications for both the individual and for society.”

Consequently, the best way for men to improve their relationships with the opposite sex is to get to bed earlier. By themselves.

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