What causes sleep apnea?
Answers
Professionals consider sleep apnea one of the most severe sleep disorders responsible for a continuous chain of pausing and continuing breathing during sleep. Professionals have categorized sleep apnea into different types:
1. Sometimes, muscles in the back of the throat relax when they shouldn’t, making way for obstructive sleep apnea. These muscles located in the back of the throat are responsible for supporting the soft palate, uvula, tonsils, tongue, and sidewalls of the throat.
As these muscles relax, the airway narrows to the point of closing, triggering the oxygen sensors in your brain before your brain rouses you from your sleep so that you can have a chance to reopen your airway. This arousal is so brief that you don’t even remember it afterwards. Still, the chain of snorting, choking, and gasping five to thirty times each hour all night will eventually ruin any chances of deep REM sleep.
2. The brain isn’t always the non-faulty player in every scenario, as it fails to transmit signals to your breathing muscles in central sleep apnea, causing you to make no effort to breathe for a short yet harmful period. Awakening with shortness of breath or having difficulty going to sleep are two of the worst feelings that central sleep apnea brings to the affected person’s life.
Each of these sleep disorders has more than just a few sleep-related adverse effects on one’s life, but it’s a two-way street. Some risk factors increase one’s chance of sleep apnea. For example, fat deposits around your neck can restrict your breathing, a “sleep apnea” risk factor. Also, professionals believe people with thicker necks might have narrower airways, making way for tonsils and adenoids to enlarge and further block the airway.
Smokers and drinkers are more likely than other people to experience obstructive sleep apnea as smoking intensifies fluid retention and inflammation in the upper airway.
In contrast, drinkers’ throat muscles are more relaxed compared to non-drinkers. Many people have difficulties breathing through their noses while they sleep. These people experience an increased chance of sleep apnea, especially if they have a family history of this sleep disorder. Also, many medical conditions increase one’s chances of developing this sleeping disorder.
People suffering from high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, type 2 diabetes, and Parkinson’s disease generally have an increased chance of experiencing sleep apnea and its problems.
Chronic lung diseases, polycystic ovary syndrome, hormonal disorders, and prior stroke experiences increase the chances.
An abnormal breathing pattern occurs during sleep, known as sleep apnea. Sleep apnea occurs when someone’s breathing repeatedly pauses while sleeping. In addition to their adverse effects on sleep quality, breathing lapses may affect the body’s oxygen supply, leading to serious health problems.
In the United States, sleep apnea is one of the most common sleep disorders. Almost anybody can get it, although men are more likely to suffer. It affects children and adults of both sexes. Because of sleep apnea’s prevalence and possible health effects, everyone needs to know its types, symptoms, causes, and treatments.
One’s upper airway anatomy and fat accumulation around the neck or the upper airway can cause sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea mostly happens when a muscle in your throat relaxes and blocks the airway. Sometimes brain signals fail to reach the respiratory system. Some factors increase the probability of this sleep disorder, such as excess weight, having a thick neck and a narrow airway, getting old, consumption of alcohol or sedatives, smoking, nasal congestion, and medical condition.
