Obstructive sleep apnea can be a very serious sleep disorder, which is why it’s so important to know the risk factors and causes so that you can properly identify and treat this condition early on. During sleep people are supposedly having the most restorative and restful time of day. For people with obstructive sleep apnea this is not true at all. Their apneic events happen hundreds of times a night when their breath pauses and causes them to wake. Not all people are aware of the number of reasons that obstructive sleep apnea occurs which make it hard for people with this sleep disorder to seek medical help. To get the correct treatment you need to know the risk factors and causes of obstructive sleep apnea.
Causes of Obstructive Sleep Apnea
There are many causes of obstructive sleep apnea. One cause is problems within the airway. These problems are causes by certain problems in the airway. These problems include the upper and lower jaw, tonsils, soft palate, tongue, and throat muscles. Some cases of sleep apnea cases involved over- relaxed throat muscles and tongue. Usually when people sleep their muscles naturally relax, but when they have sleep apnea their throat and tongue muscles relax more than normal. This results in the narrowing of the airway and can cause apneic events. Enlarged and collapsed soft palate and tonsils also contribute to the cause of obstructive sleep apnea.
Some structural abnormalities may also cause people to experience obstructive sleep apnea. Anatomical abnormalities such as the bone structure and shape of head and neck may also affect the size of a person’s airway. If you have a bigger neck you may have a narrower airway. If you have an enlarged tongue or tonsils, this may also have an affect on your airway. People are also more prone to obstructive sleep apnea if they have structural abnormalities in the jaw, nose, and mouth. These abnormalities often appear in people with craniofacial syndromes which makes them more prone to this sleeping disorder. Nearly 50% of those with downs syndrome experience obstructive sleep apnea because of their large tongue, narrower nasopharynx and decreased muscle tone.
Risk Factors
Obesity may also contribute to obstructive sleep apnea. When people are over weight their fatty cells tend to gather and clog in the throat tissue making the airway narrow, which makes it harder to breath over all. They may also have added obstruction due to the pressure on the airway.
With all disorders there are risk factors involved. Obstructive sleep apnea is found more commonly in men, although women are predisposed after menopause. Studies show that once a woman has hit menopause they are more likely to have this sleep disorder.
Children and adolescents may have obstructive sleep apnea, although it is more commonly found in people over the age of 65. Those of older age are twice as likely to experience it.
The use of any drug including alcohol, sedatives, and cigarettes also contribute to obstructive sleep apnea. When you drink your muscles become more relaxed, but smoking on the other hand is proven to cause inflammation in the upper airway, making smokers twice as likely to suffer from obstructive sleep apnea.
If you have family members who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea you are at a higher risk to develop this sleep disorder because it is hereditary. Snoring is also an indicator of obstructive sleep apnea, some say that chronic snoring causes apneic events. When you snore your soft palate stretches because of the vibrations, this may cause your soft palate to not only stretch but also collapse. Snoring does not automatically mean that you have obstructive sleep apnea, although if you think you do, you should talk to your health care professional as soon as possible so that you can begin treatment and start sleeping well again.
There are varying degrees of severity of sleep apnea, so you need to know what you’re dealing with if you have been diagnosed with this condition. You should also know that obstructive sleep apnea is one of the more severe stages of this condition and it actually involves the stopping of breathing due to an obstruction in the airway. It is this type of sleep apnea that can cause the most problems and even result in death in some cases. If you are suffering from this type of sleep apnea, then it’s likely that you are wondering what your treatment options are and if you will have to live with this condition for the rest of your life.
You should know that many people who have this type of obstructive sleep apnea manage with it just fine. One of the more common forms of treatment for this condition is a machine with a face mask that monitors your breathing. If the user stops breathing during their sleep for any amount of time, the machine can sense this and sounds an alarm that will cause the wearer to awaken and change positions. These machines usually have a feature where they offer a more pure form of oxygen to make sure that the body has enough oxygen in their blood and usually, these machines will feed moist air to the wearer, so as to reduce potential irritation to the airways that is often caused from breathing too much dry air.
This is one of the most common treatments for obstructive sleep apnea, although lifestyle changes such as quitting smoking, cutting back on how much alcohol a person drinks before going to bed and losing weight are often recommended and used in conjunction to this form of treatment. Over time, depending on the patient’s desire to cure this condition, lifestyle changes and use of the machine are enough to ease and prevent obstructive sleep apnea, but it’s important to make sure that you are no longer suffering with it before you choose to stop any treatment.
Others who suffer with this condition have found that surgery to correct the problem is the most effective and preferable solution for them. Often, when a person undergoes a surgery to cure obstructive sleep apnea, they will find that many of their problems are cured at least temporarily. There are many different surgical options which you can discuss with your healthcare provider, but it’s important to remember that in this case, surgery is not always a permanent form of treatment for this condition. However, many people have found that they have good results with this type of treatment and would do it again if they were given the option.
