Bollywood lost an iconic singer Bappi Lahiri on 15th February 2022. He was 69 years old. The cause of death is known to be Obstructive sleep apnea. Do you have any idea about this disease? Well, if not then let us brief you about it. It is a sleep-breathing disorder where a person constantly stops and begins breathing during sleep. Even though there are other types of sleep apnea, the most common among them is obstructive sleep apnea.
Occurrence of obstructive sleep apnea
It is important to know the cause of a particular disorder or disease. Since we are discussing the OSA short form of obstructive sleep apnea, its occurrence indicates when the throat muscles of a person get irregular and blockage in his airway during the time of sleeping. Snoring is one such main sign of OSA disorder.
Are there any available treatments for it?
Yes, there are possibilities for treating OSA. One such is of device that is used for putting positive pressure on keeping the airway of the person open during his sleep. A mouthpiece comes as the second option that is preferred for pushing the lower jaw of the patient forward at the time of sleep. The third option is surgery.
Symptoms of obstructive sleep disorder
After knowing about the occurrence and signs of obstructive sleep apnea, now let us get to know about its possible symptoms. These include:
- Feeling too sleepy during daytime
- Noisy snoring
- Stopping in the breathing process at the time of sleep
- The person suddenly awakens during his sleep due to choking
- At the time when he awakes, he feels a sore throat or dry mouth
- Feeling pain in the head during the morning
- Poor concentration in daytime
- Uncertain changes in the mood like irritation and depression
- People who have OSA have high blood pressure
- Plus they have low sexual desire
What are the causes of OSA?
As we have briefed above about obstructive sleep apnea, it occurs when the back of a person’s throat is at a relaxing state that is too much to letting breathing a normal state. These muscles are supportive of body structure like the back portion of your mouth roof (or soft palate), uvula (a triangular-shaped hanging tissue), tongue, and the tonsils.
At the time of relaxation of muscles, the airway of a person gets smaller or closed down at the time he breathes in. This hampers his process of breathing for a longer duration or ten seconds. This decreases the oxygen level in the blood and leads to the creation of carbon dioxide.
In this case, the brain of the person is efficient to sense the problem in breathing and wakes him up from his sleep to make him open his airway once again. This awakeness does not last for long and is only for a brief duration. Hence, it can’t be remembered. A person gets awakened with a short breath that amends itself instantly within two deep breaths. He/she ends up snoring louder, or suddenly inhaling with his mouth open.
The repetition of this process can last for a long hour at night, or at least 30 times. These disturbances badly affect you from deep sleeping. This results in restlessness and a constant feeling of sleepiness during the daytime. People who are affected with obstructive sleep apnea are unable to figure out about their disturbed sleep. They don’t even realize about their bad sleep at whole night.
Risks associated with OSA
Obstructive sleep apnea does not target any particular, it can happen to anyone including men and women. Some factors lead to an increased risk of OSA.
Gaining too much weight
At the beginning of the article, we mentioned an example of a singing personality of Bollywood, Bappi Lahiri, who passed away at the age of 69 due to OSA. As we all know him, he was overweight. Now if you have this notion, that obstructive sleep apnea targets only fat people, then it is not necessary always.
But in most cases, overweight people become the target of this disease. When there is much fat around the upper airway, this hampers the process of breathing. People who are suffering from polycystic ovary syndrome and hypothyroidism can develop obstructive sleep apnea problems.
Aging
There are possibilities of developing obstructive sleep apnea that can arise as you grow older. But it won’t be prolonged at the age of 60s or 70s.
Smokers beware!
Yes, it is true, those who smoke a lot are more likely to come in grip of OSA. So it is an alarming call for all chain smokers. Stop it now before it’s too late.
People who are diabetic
People who have diabetes can also develop this disease.
Family history
The cause of obstructive sleep apnea also depends on the family history of a person. For instance, if any of the elders or forefathers had OSA, then it might be genetic.
OSA can target asthma patients
Patients with asthma are also at risk of obstructive sleep apnea.
Final words
Besides mentioned symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea above, people with OSA can also face problems with memory, pain in the head, depression, anxiety, stress, and constant urination at night. One of the major advantages of the track and trace medicine system initiated by Medgrids is to enhance the product sales channels’ efficiency and bring down fraudulent and theft cases.
