When you’re sleeping, you can’t control how you breathe. However, your breathing during the day carries into the night. In other words, by being conscious of proper breathing during the day, you’ll improve your nighttime respiration and sleep quality.
Better sleep ⇒ better you, both mentally and physically.
If snoring is the first sign of sleep-disordered breathing, then sleep apnea is the more severe form of obstruction in the airway.
Apnea means 'without breath' in Greek.
💤 Central sleep apnea is a relatively rare condition when the brain fails to send the body the correct signal to breathe.
💤 Obstructive sleep apnea — OSA — is the most common type and happens when the sleeper stops breathing involuntarily for 10 seconds or more due to collapse of the upper airway.
The test for OSA is a sleep study monitoring both sleep and respiration overnight at a sleep center. The severity of the sleep apnea depends on the number of occurrences in an hour, ranging from 5 in mild cases to more than 30 in severe cases. These can cause the blood oxygen saturation to drop to as low as 50%, putting the body under a lot of stress. This in the long term may lead to hypertension, coronary heart disease, and stroke.
The traditional treatment for obstructive sleep apnea is the use of a CPAP — Continuous Positive Airway Pressure — machine that pushes air into the airway to prevent it from collapsing.
Newer procedures involve widening the airways by jaw positioning and using an implant to promote better tongue positioning.
No matter the treatment, proper breathing habits must be included in the mix to have long-lasting relief from any type of sleep-disordered breathing.
Proper breathing starts with the nose and includes breathing
light—less air ⇒ less turbulence—,
slow with prolonged exhales, and
deep utilizing the diaphragm.
Don’t wait to suffer health problems before you pay attention to your breathing. It’s a process you repeat thousands of times every day. You want to do it correctly and breathe effectively and efficiently all day, every day!
Stay healthy, stay happy.