WHY YOU CAN’T STAY AWAKE: WHO SUFFERS FROM SLEEP APNEA?

posted by admin in Anti Depressants-Sleeping Aid

Surprisingly, sleep apnea was not identified as a diagnosable condition until the early 1970s. Now, however, it is ranked as the single most frequent cause of sleep disturbance, occurring in almost half of patients with sleeping problems. Overall perhaps 5 percent of the U.S. population—roughly 12 million people— may suffer from it. One out of ten men over forty have clinically significant sleep apnea. The older you are, the greater the risk: some experts estimate that 40 to 50 percent of the population over the age of fifty may experience sleep-disordered breathing.

The pattern of daytime sleepiness resulting from apnea varies widely. Some people with OSA are prone to sleep attacks and microsleeps—dozings that last only a second or two. Usually they find naps do little to refresh them. Like narcoleptics, they may experience hallucinations as they wake up or drop off, but they don’t exhibit the telltale narcolepsy symptom of muscle paralysis. Other OSA victims fall asleep whenever their activity level drops below a certain point—when they sit down, for example, or as soon as they begin to read. Driving is a notorious trigger for sleepiness; one patient described himself as “catnapping on the straightaways and waking up for the curves.” Sufferers may have lower levels of attention and concentration and have been found less able to perform small manipulations with their hands, such as knitting or typing. In severe cases OSA can make it impossible for a person to function on the job; many a patient, like the one I mentioned earlier, has told me of stern reprimands or even firings by unsympathetic bosses. Diagnosis is often made more difficult by patients who deny the severity of the problem.

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WHY YOU CAN’T STAY AWAKE: WHO SUFFERS FROM SLEEP APNEA?Surprisingly, sleep apnea was not identified as a diagnosable condition until the early 1970s. Now, however, it is ranked as the single most frequent cause of sleep disturbance, occurring in almost half of patients with sleeping problems. Overall perhaps 5 percent of the U.S. population—roughly 12 million people— may suffer from it. One out of ten men over forty have clinically significant sleep apnea. The older you are, the greater the risk: some experts estimate that 40 to 50 percent of the population over the age of fifty may experience sleep-disordered breathing.The pattern of daytime sleepiness resulting from apnea varies widely. Some people with OSA are prone to sleep attacks and microsleeps—dozings that last only a second or two. Usually they find naps do little to refresh them. Like narcoleptics, they may experience hallucinations as they wake up or drop off, but they don’t exhibit the telltale narcolepsy symptom of muscle paralysis. Other OSA victims fall asleep whenever their activity level drops below a certain point—when they sit down, for example, or as soon as they begin to read. Driving is a notorious trigger for sleepiness; one patient described himself as “catnapping on the straightaways and waking up for the curves.” Sufferers may have lower levels of attention and concentration and have been found less able to perform small manipulations with their hands, such as knitting or typing. In severe cases OSA can make it impossible for a person to function on the job; many a patient, like the one I mentioned earlier, has told me of stern reprimands or even firings by unsympathetic bosses. Diagnosis is often made more difficult by patients who deny the severity of the problem.*135\226\8*

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