ANCSLEEP BLOG

What is Sleep Apnea?

Sleep apnea is a medical condition and sleeping disorder where you repeatedly stop breathing throughout the night, anywhere from 5 to 30+ times per hour. This can happen because of:

• (Obstructive Sleep Apnea) An obstruction, such as because of your throat muscles relaxing and collapsing your airway (you try to breathe but can’t)
• (Central Sleep Apnea) A neurological condition where your breathing mechanism “short circuits” (you don’t try to breath)
• (Complex Sleep Apnea) Both obstruction and “short circuits”

Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common form. Each time you stop breathing is considered an “apnea” or “apnea event”. Sleep apnea can be considered mild, moderate, or severe.

What is Insomnia?

Insomnia is a sleeping disorder that prevents you from getting enough sleep because you have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep throughout the night, and/or you wake up much earlier than intended, and can't go back to sleep. 

If you have insomnia, you never feel like you are getting enough rest – probably because you aren’t. It’s frustrating to not be able to sleep when you want to, and accompanying this frustration are the physical and mental consequences of being sleep deprived. Continue reading to learn more about the different types of insomnia. 

The Socially Unacceptable Snoring Threshold

What’s the difference between “normal snoring” and SUS (socially unacceptable snoring)? Nearly everyone snores from time to time. Many of us snore with regularity, also called chronic snoring. Snoring and chronic snoring are generally not harmful.

But, they can be a sign of a deeper problem. This is when they are termed "problematic snoring". Problematic snoring can include the following characteristics:

• Your snoring keeps your bed partner or roommate up
• Your bed partner has to wear ear plugs to sleep
• Your snoring is the basis for many family jokes
• You snore most (or all) nights

Socially unacceptable snoring really comes down to this: it’s very disruptive for anyone near you to sleep. Beyond being disruptive, it can be a sign that there are underlying and concerning medical conditions causing the snoring – mainly, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), of which SUS is a primary symptom.

If your snoring is a problem, it’s definitely worth trying to identify if there are underlying problems.

What is a Sleep Study?

A sleep study, also called a polysomnogram (PSG), is a non-invasive study conducted at a sleep center. Sleep specialists monitor your sleeping, via PSG equipment ,in order to assess what kind of sleep quality you are getting and, where applicable, any sleep disorders you may be dealing with.

During a sleep study, many aspects of your sleep will be evaluated and monitored, such as:

• Brain wave activity
• Eye movements
• Breathing
• Muscle contractions
• Heart Activity
• Blood oxygenation

Results from your sleep study are analyzed by sleep physicians and sent to your healthcare practitioner to review with you.

What Is Childhood Insomnia

Childhood insomnia is not often talked about, but is a very real issue. Signs may not be obvious, unless you have a child overtly acting out, and sleep deprivation is identified as the main issue.

Childhood insomnia is the same as it is in adults where children can't fall asleep, stay asleep, or sleep until the next morning.

Unfortunately identifying childhood insomnia is made difficult because symptoms largely overlap with seemingly normal child and teen behavioral changes:

• Moodiness
• Acting out
• Being tired all the time (we might ask ourselves, "Is it just a growth spurt?")
• Difficulty concentrating

The difference between childhood insomnia causing such problems and normal childhood development is that one is normal, and one is likely preventable.

What are the Types of Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a medical sleep disorder where you stop breathing for short periods (10 seconds or longer) throughout the night. When you stop breathing, your brain eventually rouses your body and you wake up. This results in you getting a poor night's rest because you wake up so many times during the night.

There are three types of sleep apnea:

1. (most common) Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA): there is a physical obstruction that blocks the airway
2. (uncommon) Central sleep apnea: electrical malfunction in the brain causes you to stop breathing
3. (rare) Complex sleep apnea: a mix of both central and obstructive sleep apnea

These sleep apneas have many negative side effects, most notably:

• General loss of performance in all life activities
• Lower life expectancy
• Correlations with diabetes and obesity
• Chronic irritation, depression, anxiety, and low stress management threshold

Let's look at obstructive sleep apnea vs. central sleep apnea in more detail.

When Snoring is a Personal Problem, Not Just a Nuisance

Is your or your partner’s snoring the primer for family jokes? Does your loud snoring come with an “earplugs required” caveat for your partner? Is your snoring the rule, not the exception?

Chronic, loud snoring may be a bigger personal problem than just a nuisance for other people who have to listen to your nightly nasally noises. In other words, while their sleep might be disrupted, your snoring might be caused by a medical condition called sleep apnea, which can have significant health consequences. Or, maybe you are just a loud, chronic snorer.

Knowing the difference and telltale signs between loud snoring and sleep apnea is important, as identifying the potential problem underlying your chronic snoring is the first step to getting healthy again.

Do you ever feel like you are getting the recommended amount of sleep, but still feel exhausted throughout the day? This is known as excessive daytime sleepiness, and it is the process of having some sort of nighttime disruption that reduces your sleep quality and quantity. Just because you are lying down with your eyes closed does not mean that you are getting the amount of deep sleep required to feel well-rested. If you continuously wake up feeling exhausted, and can't seem to garner any type of energy throughout the day, you may have an underlying sleep disorder of which you are unaware. Continue reading for common causes of sleep deprivation to determine if you need to speak with a doctor and get help. 

What is CPAP Therapy?

CPAP therapy is a treatment path that is used to treat obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Obstructive sleep apnea is a medical condition and sleeping disorder that causes your throat muscles to relax, your airway to become obstructed by your tongue or tonsils, and you to stop breathing. This leads to many subsequent arousals throughout the night, referred to as an apnea event. 

Obstructive sleep apnea can be mild or severe:

• Mild OSA: 5-14 apneas per hour of sleep
• Moderate OSA: 15-30 apneas per hour of sleep
• Severe OSA: 30+ apneas per hour of sleep

When you stop breathing and rouse this much throughout the night (anywhere from 40 to hundreds of times throughout the night), the natural result is severe sleep deprivation. As a result, your life may be shorter, unhappier, and less performant than if you treated your sleep apnea.

This is why CPAP therapy is so important. In CPAP therapy, you use a CPAP machine to gently push air into your airway to keep it from collapsing, allowing you to continuously breathe while sleeping. 

When Snoring Becomes a Problem

Does your partner wear earplugs to block out your nightly snoring? Is your snoring the rule, not the exception? Does your family often make jokes about you and your snoring?