Cure your snoring problem: Statistics Surrounding Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a disorder that affects breathing during sleep. Apnea comes from a Greek word that stands for “want of breath.” Sleep apnea is a chronic health problem and is also a progressive condition which means it can potentially worsen over time. These cessations of breathing can last anywhere from a minimum of ten to thirty seconds and upwards to as much as four hundred per night in those with severe sleep apnea. Some individual are so plagued by the condition that they are awakened every thirty seconds a nigh with another apnea episode. Sleep apnea is still greatly misunderstood by the medical community although research is ongoing. There are a great many individuals who are unaware that they even suffer from sleep apnea. Sometimes it takes a spouse, family member or close friend to bring the problem to the individual’s attention. Sleep apnea is a serious health problem that can be life threatening if left undiagnosed and untreated.

It is estimated that anywhere from twelve to twenty million American citizens suffer from sleep apnea in varying degrees. There are three kinds of sleep apnea- obstructive, central and mixed, of which obstructive sleep apnea is the most widespread by far. Obstructive sleep apnea can be mild, moderate or severe. It can easily go from mild to moderate or moderate to severe. Sleep apnea is not “age-specific” and affects individuals of every age, including children. Both men and women develop sleep apnea although it is more common in men then women, especially middle-aged men who are overweight. Part of this is believed to be due to the fact that men have a thicker neck circumference than women.

Breaking sleep apnea down even further by gender approximately twenty-four percent of men suffer from the sleep disorder while the percentage for women is nine percent. Women who have not entered menopause yet are less likely to suffer from sleep apnea than are women who are presently experiencing menopause or women who have already gone through it. However after menopause women are approximately as likely as men to develop sleep apnea.

Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common of all sleep disorders. It is estimated that half of the patients who suffer from sleep apnea also suffer from loud, habitual snoring and are overweight. According to the National Commission on Sleep Disorders Research, approximately 38,000 deaths occur on an annual basis that relate to cardiovascular problems that in one way or another are connected to sleep apnea. These problems include high blood pressure, hypertension and stroke, among others. An estimated six million American residents suffer from sleep apnea that is moderate to severe and may necessitate a late night visit to the e=emergency room. Unfortunately a great many people do not, as previously mentioned, even realize that they suffer from sleep apnea. This number is somewhere around 500,000 individuals.

Of the men and women that suffer from sleep apnea, approximately four percent of men and two percent of women meet what is deemed as the “diagnostic criteria” for the sleep disorder, which averages an estimated ten bouts of apnea (or apneic events or episodes) in the course of an hour while they sleep.

Cure your snoring problem

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Statistics Surrounding Sleep Apnea

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