Even if you get enough sleep, if you often wake up with a headache or feel as if you are continually weary throughout the day, you may have a sleep disorder like sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is common and, if untreated, might have serious health consequences. As a sleep medicine specialist, it is essential to me to not only educate my patients about the potentially serious risk that sleep apnea presents to their overall health, but also to provide them the treatment options that are most appropriate for their unique situations. What is sleep apnea? When sleeping, a person with sleep apnea stops breathing. Throughout the course of the night, these pauses may happen up to 400 times…
The muscles at the back of your throat relax, which causes this to happen. The tonsils, the side walls of the throat, the tongue, and the soft palate are all supported by these muscles. These muscles also help to maintain the uvula, a triangular piece of tissue that hangs from the soft palate. Your airway narrows or possibly closes entirely when you take a breath in as the muscles in your airway loosen up. Because you aren’t getting enough air, your blood’s oxygen content may start to decline. When your brain notices that you can’t breathe, it briefly awakens you up so you can clear your airway and start breathing normally again. This epiphany often happens so quickly…
