[리서치페이퍼 유제원 기자] Some people suddenly stop breathing even while sleeping well. This is a patient with sleep apnea. According to a 2018 study, the prevalence of sleep apnea among Koreans was 15.8%. Recently, diseases that cause sleep apnea, such as obesity, are on the rise, so their prevalence is expected to increase gradually. So, let’s learn about sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea and snoring are often confused with the same disease, but sleep apnea and snoring are different. Snoring is a noise that occurs by causing vibrations of the tissues in a part of the upper airway during sleep, and sleep apnea is accompanied by an obstruction of the upper airway, causing a decrease in oxygen. It has been reported that 20-70% of patients who snore are accompanied by sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea is a breathing-related sleep disorder that occurs when the airways become blocked during sleep and breathing stops for more than 10 seconds. It is a breathing-related sleep disorder that causes frequent sleep fragmentation, hypoxia, and activation of the sympathetic nervous system. due to poor oxygen supply to the body. If left untreated, fatal complications such as cardiovascular disease, arrhythmia, and sudden death during sleep can occur and can cause daytime drowsiness, chronic fatigue, poor concentration, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, dementia, and cardiovascular disease.
If you don’t breathe while you sleep, your body’s oxygen saturation will drop and your brain will wake up to breathe, causing you to lose sleep. If this continues, the quality of your sleep may worsen, leading to drowsiness and tiredness during the day, poor concentration, and insomnia or depression. Additionally, when the brain wakes up, the sympathetic nervous system is activated, which has a negative effect on the heart.
According to a meta-analysis study published in 2022, patients with sleep apnea had a disease incidence rate of 1.71 times higher for cardiovascular disease, 1.86 times higher for stroke, 1.77 times higher for mortality and 1.48 times higher for coronary heart disease compared to patients with sleep apnea. control group. The cause of these diseases is closely related to repeated oxygen starvation, blood pressure fluctuations due to autonomic nervous system imbalance, oxidative stress, increased inflammatory response, and increased insulin resistance.
The main symptoms of sleep apnea include respiratory arrest or other snoring, daytime drowsiness, headache after waking up, dry throat after waking up, feeling unfresh after waking up, frequent sleep fragmentation, poor concentration, decreased memory, mood changes and depression.
Causes of sleep apnea include anatomically abnormally small jaws, thick necks, and enlarged tonsils or adenoid tissues that narrow the upper airway space. Fat accumulation in the neck area due to obesity or enlargement of tissues such as the tongue and tonsils can also cause a narrowing of the upper airways. Other causes of sleep apnea include smoking, alcohol and sedative medications.
To diagnose sleep apnea, you need to perform a polysomnography. More than 5 respiratory events occur per hour (indicating apnea-hypopnea), and ▲ daytime drowsiness, non-restorative sleep, insomnia ▲ respiratory arrest during sleep, feeling of suffocation, shortness of breath ▲ snoring ▲ hypertension, mood disorders ‧ Sleep apnea diagnosed if clinical symptoms such as cognitive impairment, cardiovascular disease, stroke, congestive heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and diabetes are present or more, or if more than 15 respiratory events per hour are present on polysomnography.
The standard treatment for sleep apnea is “continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)”. It is a treatment that blows pressurized air through the nose to prevent airway obstruction during sleep and is effective in improving daytime sleepiness, improving quality of life, and lowering blood pressure and blood sugar. Mild side effects such as skin irritation, dry mouth, nasal congestion, and leakage may occur, but they are not fatal. Compliance refers to compliance when the number of days continuous positive airway pressure is used for more than 4 hours per night is greater than 70% of the total period of use. The greater the compliance, the greater the effect of sleep apnea control. related diseases, so efforts are needed to maintain compliance. Other treatments for sleep apnea include oral appliances and surgery.
Sleep apnea is sometimes considered a habit that interferes with deep sleep. However, if left untreated, fatal complications can occur, and poor sleep quality can lead to life-threatening conditions, such as cognitive decline and drowsy driving, so it must be treated.
In particular, obesity is a major risk factor for sleep apnea, so losing weight is helpful if you are obese. Smoking and alcohol consumption cause inflammation of the upper respiratory tract and worsen sleep apnea, which is why it is necessary to stop smoking and drinking. Since the lateral decubitus position, which involves sleeping on your side, helps keep the upper airways more open, it is advisable to sleep on your side if you suffer from sleep apnea.
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