The Dangers of Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea can have serious health consequences. It’s a common problem, affecting more than half of all men and over one-quarter of women.

Sleep apnea is also becoming more prevalent among children. This may be related to the lack of breast feeding and eating too many processed foods.

Snoring is a problem often related to sleep apnea. Snoring is caused by a restriction in the breathing airways. The vibrations produced as the air is restricted from freely passing past your soft palate, uvula, tongue, tonsils and/or muscles in the back of your throat causes the snore.

Fortunately, there are two ways to address these kinds of breathing problems that don’t necessarily involve resorting to a CPAP machine. They are oral myofunctional therapy and learning how to breathe properly while you’re awake.

It’s also important to address any breathing problems your children might have, as it can have serious repercussions for their health.

Sleep Apnea Increases Your Risk for Health Problems:

There are five general types of sleep apnea and any of them may provoke or exacerbate other health problems:

1. Upper airway resistance syndrome or UARS is a sleep disorder characterized by airway resistance during sleep

2. Central apnea typically relates to your diaphragm and chest wall and an inability to properly pull air in. Central sleep apnea occurs because your brain doesn’t send proper signals to the muscles that control your breathing. Central sleep apnea may occur as a result of other conditions, such as heart failure and stroke. Sleeping at a high altitude also may cause central sleep apnea.

3. Obstructive apnea relates to an obstruction of your airway that begins in your nose and ends in your lungs. The frequent collapse of the airway during sleep makes it difficult to breathe for periods lasting as long as 10 seconds. Those with a severe form of the disorder have at least 30 disruptions per hour.

4. Mixed apnea is a combination of central apnea and obstructive apnea.

5. Snoring is the first sign of sleep apnea.

A number of recent studies have highlighted the health risks associated with sleep apnea:

1. Dramatically weaken your immune system
2. Accelerate tumor growth
3. Cause a pre-diabetic state and promote diabetes
4. Speed up memory loss and promote Alzheimer’s disease
5. Impair physical and mental performance, and decrease your problem solving ability
6. Promote heart disease
7. Promote gout
8. Promote depression. It’s also frequently misdiagnosed as depression and the greater the severity of your sleep apnea, the greater your likelihood of feeling depressed

How Oral Myofunctional Therapy Can Help Relieve Sleep Apnea:

A form of facial muscle therapy called oral myofunctional therapy can help reshape your oral cavity and promote proper placement of your tongue, thereby alleviating sleep apnea. Myofunctional therapy can reduce the severity of sleep apnea by about 50% in adults and 62% in children.

It also teaches you to breathe through your nose, with your tongue resting against the roof of your mouth. This is an important aspect of proper breathing that the Buteyko Breathing Method also addresses (see the next section). If you’re a chronic mouth breather, you’re also at increased risk of sleep apnea.

Getting all your oral-facial and neck muscles to work correctly can make a big difference. To find a qualified therapist, see the Academy of Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy’s (AOMT) Website

A Simple Test:

A simple test you can perform to check whether or not you’re breathing properly is to stand with your back against a wall, with your heels, buttocks, shoulder blades, and head touching the wall. Say “Hello,” swallow, and then breathe. If you can speak, swallow, and breathe easily and comfortably in this position, then your mouth and throat are clear. If you cannot perform those three functions, your breathing is probably obstructed, which may be exacerbated when lying down to sleep.

The oral appliance approach has been recognized as part of the standard of care for sleep apnea since about 1995, and oral appliances are typically recommended as the first line treatment for mild to moderate sleep apnea.

One source where you can find a treatment specialist familiar with oral appliances is the Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine Website

Learning to Breathe Properly While Awake May Also Help:

The Buteyko Breathing Method named after the Russian physician who developed the technique, is another powerful approach for reversing health problems associated with improper breathing, including sleep apnea. By learning to consistently breathe through your nose rather than your mouth, your breathing volume will be brought back to normal. This will allow for optimal oxygenation of your tissues and organs, including your brain.

When it comes to your breathing patterns, diet may again play a role. Processed foods, which tend to acidify your blood in an attempt to maintain normal pH, will make you breathe heavier and can lead to chronic overbreathing.

The reason for this is because carbon dioxide, which is in your blood, helps regulate pH. Besides water, raw fruits and vegetables have the least impact on your breathing, followed by cooked vegetables. Processed, high-protein and high-grain meals have the greatest adverse effect on the way you breathe.

Typical characteristics of overbreathing include mouth breathing, upper chest breathing, sighing, noticeable breathing during rest and taking large breaths prior to talking. The Buteyko Breathing Method Website

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