Sleep Disordered Breathing (SDB)
Sometimes during sleep, the body either forgets to breathe, has a hard time breathing,
or is unable to pass air even when trying to breathe. This is called sleep disordered breathing (SDB).
Sleep disordered breathing, also called sleep apnea, was first described in the late 1800s.
Yet it was only 25 years ago that doctors recognized it as a serious problem. The word apnea
comes from the Greek words "a," which means absence of, and "pnoia," which means breath. Sleep
apnea syndrome is defined as breathing that temporarily stops during sleep. You fall asleep;
you stop breathing; to start breathing again, you wake up; you start breathing; you fall back
to sleep; you stop breathing. This cycle continues throughout the night. The awakenings you
experience are so brief that you are not aware of them, but they are long enough to help you
start breathing again and long enough to disrupt your sleep.
The most common type of SDB is obstructive sleep apnea. Normally, the air you breathe
passes from your nose and mouth through your throat to your lungs. The portion of the
throat just above the larynx (the voice box) is soft and flexible so you can swallow
and so you can make the sounds needed for whispering, talking, singing, and yelling.
For the diagnosis of SDB to be made, each apnea episode must last a minimum of 10 seconds and
must occur at least 5 times for each hour you are asleep. Partial decreases in breathing,
called hypopneas, may also produce brief awakenings even when complete apneas do not occur.
The soft palate is the tissue at the back of the roof of your mouth that blocks
the passage leading to your nose when you swallow. This stops food from going
up into your nose. The uvula is the flap that hangs down in the back of your throat.
Your tonsils are globules of tissue far back on both sides of the throat that frequently
swell and become tender during throat infections, especially in children. Muscles hold
the airway open by keeping each structure tight and in place.
During sleep the muscles relax a little, but in a normal person,
air can still pass through. When any of these structures is anatomically
abnormal, air is prevented from freely flowing during sleep, causing
snoring and Sleep Disordered Breathing. Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when the muscles of the airway
collapse, resulting in partial or complete blockage of airflow. You still attempt
to breathe, your diaphragm is still moving, but the collapse of the airway
muscles blocks your airway, so the air cannot get in or out. Therefore the
reason you stop breathing is that when you fall asleep, the muscles in your
airway collapse, blocking the air from going through. When you wake up, even
briefly, the airway opens again.
Latest Sleep Apnea News
SPO Medical Secures Agreement in Sleep Apnea Market (redOrbit) NEW YORK, March 9, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SPO Medical Inc. (SPOM), a leading developer of biosensor and microprocessor technologies for use in portable monitoring devices, today announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with MetroSleep Inc, a US corporation that specializes in products to diagnose and treat sleep apnea through at-home testing. |
Sleep apnea more than a snore (York Daily Record) Evening Sun Reporter Joseph Deinlein reflects after being hooked up for a sleep study at Hanover Hospital last week. Deinlein volunteered for the study, knowing he snores, but found he has symptoms of a larger problem. |
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