Sleep apnea is a medical condition where you stop breathing many times throughout the night and, in consequence, momentarily wake up throughout the night. Symptoms of sleep apnea in children are also the same as adults, though you might describe some of the symptoms more in "child" terms:
You've gotten pokes and prods in the rib from your partner in the middle of the night to wake you from sleep. He or she rolls over and groggily moans, "You're snoring again." After months of this repeated ritual, you begin to wonder: Do I have sleep apnea?
Much of the year in Alaska, we live in either the extreme darkness or extreme lightness. These extreme lighting conditions affect our lives in many different ways:
“Honey, stop snoring,” says the wife as she gives her husband a good shove in the middle of the night.
The husband, indignant, rolls over and retorts, “I wasn’t snoring.”
This is a commonly played out bedroom scene that most couples have experienced in the course of their relationship. Some facts about snoring:
Sleep studies are important diagnostic tools for common sleep disorders like sleep apnea, insomnia, circadian and rhythm disorders. Sleep studies have proven to be particularly important in Alaska where the extreme darkness and lightness tend to either cause or worsen sleep disorders.
Sleep studies are important diagnostic tools for common sleep disorders like sleep apnea, insomnia, circadian and rhythm disorders. Sleep studies have proven to be particularly important in Alaska where the extreme darkness and lightness tend to either cause or worsen sleep disorders.
One of the greatest risks of having an untreated sleep disorder is the prospect of getting into a car crash while fatigued. Many individuals who have sleep disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea, or restless leg syndrome experience bouts of drowsy driving. In fact, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that drowsy driving is related to more than 1,500 deaths per year and at least 100,000 motor-vehicle crashes.
Other than a few months out of the year between “spring” and “fall” in Alaska, living here poses unique sleeping related to either receiving mostly (or only) daylight or mostly (or only) darkness. These extreme lighting conditions affect our lives in many different ways, most of which can be very disruptive towards sleep.
Some sleep disorders are actually fairly common. They all have one thing in common: they disrupt healthy sleep. Chronic sleep disruptions have the uncanny effect of making you the “less performing” version of you. Sometimes, chronic sleep disruption can even make you feel and behave like a completely different person.
Obviously, for those of us living in Alaska it’s no secret that we are operating under “unique” circumstances in summer and winter: mainly, lots of light, and lots of darkness. Though it might seem counter intuitive, the amount of excess darkness, which is significant in the Southeast and oppressive in the Far North, actually makes sleep more difficult for many people.