[이데일리 이순용 기자] REM sleep accounts for about half of the total sleep time in healthy adults. During REM sleep, several factors combine to make sleep apnea and hypopnoea worse, leading to a further decrease in oxygen saturation, according to a study. According to a study by the Wisconsin Sleep Center, patients with sleep apnea have a high risk of high blood pressure, which increases the risk of myocardial infarction, heart failure, and stroke.
Regarding this, Han Jin-gyu, director of the Seoul Sleep Center, said, “In the case of REM sleep breathing disorder, only when REM sleep occurs every 2 to 3 hours and wake up, especially if sleep talking or behavioral being tied up by breathing. disorders occur around 4 am, the last dream, REM sleep behavior disorder should be suspected. When you get old, you only think of neurotic or psychological causes, but if awakenings are repeated during repetitive sleep, you have to find the cause and treat it by polysomnography , he emphasized.
Another feature of REM sleep disordered breathing is enuresis. According to Dr. Mary Umlauf of the American Sleep Apnea Association, 84% of people with sleep apnea have frequent urination during the night. Sleep apnea is a disease where breathing stops momentarily during sleep. When breathing stops and oxygen supply decreases, carbon dioxide increases and the blood becomes more acidic, increasing the heart rate and constricting the pulmonary vessels. At this time, the brain wakes up to reopen the airway. In addition, when the heart is overloaded at night, it secretes proteins that instruct the body to get rid of sodium and water, causing nocturia. Fortunately, if you have enuresis due to untreated sleep apnea, you can get rid of enuresis by treating sleep apnea.
Director Han Jin-gyu said, “Night urination has been considered a urological problem caused by aging, male prostatic hyperplasia, urethral stricture, or kidney disease due to decreased secretion of antidiuretic hormone, but it is also closely related to sleep apnea. In particular, if the patient himself snores and has morning wetting symptoms, there is a very high possibility of sleep apnea, so polysomnography should be performed to find the cause and treat the root cause,” he emphasized.
The biggest problem is that people in the patient group who often wake up at dawn mistake these symptoms for insomnia and try not to forcefully wake up by relying on drugs such as sleeping pills or sleep inducers without polysomnography. The reason why the brain wakes up at dawn is that its own system to solve sleep problems that occurred during sleep has been expressed. It is not important not to break, but to find the reason for breaking and treat it. Sleeping pills or sleep inducers are not a cure. Director Han said, “You should avoid taking prescription medications without polysomnography just because you often wake up in the morning. This is because taking drugs such as sleeping pills with sleep apnea can be dangerous as sleep breathing is reduced.”
If you have trouble falling asleep more than 4 times a week or if you wake up more than 2 times a week for more than 2 weeks, you need to visit a sleep clinic. A polysomnogram is needed to diagnose REM sleep disordered breathing. Health insurance currently covers polysomnography or positive airway pressure treatment for insomnia or sleep apnea, so it’s helpful to check and treat through prior medical treatment.
