The National Institutes of Health estimates that about 25 million individuals in America suffer from obstructive sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea is a common sleep disorder that causes an individual’s breathing to start and stop while they’re asleep. The disorder affects an individual’s sleep and increases their risk for accidents as well as other diseases. It has many symptoms, the most common one being loud snoring. Other symptoms include excessive irritability, sore throat, dry mouth and morning headaches.
It should be noted that not every person who snores has obstructive sleep apnea. However, individuals who experience loud snoring and gasping while they are asleep should visit their doctor for diagnosis.
The disorder is the primary cause of sleep deprivation experienced by about 70 million Americans. A study conducted by Rand Europe in 2016 found that sleep deprivation costs the United States economy roughly $400 billion yearly in workplace accidents, missed workdays, productivity losses and medical costs.
The CDC has been encouraging employers to educate their workers about this sleep disorder and the importance of good sleep. Obstructive sleep apnea causes disruptions in sleep that sometimes occurs up to 12 times in an hour. Research from the CDC shows that the short-term effects of the disorder include difficulty with paying attention and focusing, dulled reaction and daytime drowsiness. Its long-term effects include depression, obesity and a heightened risk of stroke, heart disease and blood pressure, among other conditions.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration revealed that drowsy driving is a factor in roughly 6,000 fatal accidents that occur annually. In addition, Harvard Medical School Division of Sleep Medicine revealed that lack of sleep was a factor in the 1989 grounding of the Exxon Valdez, the 1986 nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl and the 1979 nuclear accident at Three Mile Island.
Experts note that shift workers are at higher risk for sleep deprivation. While there’s no cure for obstructive sleep apnea, there are treatments, with the main one being continuous positive airway pressure therapy (“CPAP”). Individuals with this sleep disorder usually use CPAP devices, which deliver calibrated air through masks they wear every night. This air prevents their airway from closing and eliminates the need to gasp and/or snore.
Experts also recommend that individuals who are overweight or obese lose weight as excessive weight worsens the disorder’s symptoms. They further note that maintaining a healthy weight is a crucial part of decreasing risk for a host of severe ailments.
With cutting-edge treatments, the prospects of successfully treating obstructive sleep apnea have never been brighter.
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