What does sleep apnea mean?

Definitions for sleep apnea
sleep apnea

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word sleep apnea.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. sleep apneanoun

    apnea that occurs during sleep

Wiktionary

  1. sleep apneanoun

    Brief interruptions of breathing during sleep.

Wikipedia

  1. Sleep apnea

    Sleep apnea, also spelled sleep apnoea, is a sleep disorder in which pauses in breathing or periods of shallow breathing during sleep occur more often than normal. Each pause can last for a few seconds to a few minutes and they happen many times a night. In the most common form, this follows loud snoring. There may be a choking or snorting sound as breathing resumes. Because the disorder disrupts normal sleep, those affected may experience sleepiness or feel tired during the day. In children, it may cause hyperactivity or problems in school.Sleep apnea may be either obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), in which breathing is interrupted by a blockage of air flow, central sleep apnea (CSA), in which regular unconscious breath simply stops, or a combination of the two. OSA is the most common form. OSA has four key contributors; these include a narrow, crowded, or collapsible upper airway, an ineffective pharyngeal dilator muscle function during sleep, airway narrowing during sleep and unstable control of breathing (high loop gain). It is often a chronic condition. Other risk factors include being overweight, a family history of the condition, allergies, and enlarged tonsils. Some people with sleep apnea are unaware they have the condition. In many cases it is first observed by a family member. Sleep apnea is often diagnosed with an overnight sleep study. For a diagnosis of sleep apnea, more than five episodes per hour must occur.In central sleep apnea (CSA), the basic neurological controls for breathing rate malfunction and fail to give the signal to inhale, causing the individual to miss one or more cycles of breathing. If the pause in breathing is long enough, the percentage of oxygen in the circulation will drop to a lower than normal level (hypoxaemia) and the concentration of carbon dioxide will build to a higher than normal level (hypercapnia). In turn, these conditions of hypoxia and hypercapnia will trigger additional effects on the body. Brain cells need constant oxygen to live, and if the level of blood oxygen goes low enough for long enough, brain damage and even death will occur. A systemic disorder, sleep apnea is associated with a wide array of effects, including increased risk of car accidents, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, myocardial infarction, stroke, atrial fibrillation, insulin resistance, higher incidence of cancer, and neurodegeneration. The exact effects of the condition will depend on how severe the apnea is and on the individual characteristics of the person having the apnea. Treatment may include lifestyle changes, mouthpieces, breathing devices, and surgery. Effective lifestyle changes may include avoiding alcohol, losing weight, stopping smoking, and sleeping on one's side. Breathing devices include the use of a CPAP machine. With proper use, CPAP improves outcomes. Evidence suggests that CPAP may improve sensitivity to insulin, blood pressure, and sleepiness. Long term compliance, however, is an issue with more than half of people not appropriately using the device. In 2017, only 15% of potential patients in developed countries used CPAP machines, while in developing countries well under 1% of potential patients used CPAP. Without treatment, sleep apnea may increase the risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, heart failure, irregular heartbeat, obesity, and motor vehicle collisions.Alzheimer's disease and severe obstructive sleep apnea are connected because there is an increase in the protein beta-amyloid as well as white-matter damage. These are the main indicators of Alzheimer's, which in this case comes from the lack of proper rest or poorer sleep efficiency resulting in neurodegeneration. Having sleep apnea in mid-life brings a higher likelihood of developing Alzheimer's in older age, and if one has Alzheimer's then one is also more likely to have sleep apnea. This is demonstrated by cases of sleep apnea even being misdiagnosed as dementia. With the use of treatment through CPAP, there is a reversible risk factor in terms of the amyloid proteins. This usually restores brain structure and diminishes cognitive impairment.OSA is a common sleep disorder. A large analysis in 2019 of the estimated prevalence of OSA found that OSA affects 936 million—1 billion people between the ages of 30–69 globally, or roughly every 1 in 10 people, and up to 30% of the elderly. Sleep apnea is somewhat more common in men than women, roughly a 2:1 ratio of men to women, and in general more people are likely to have it with older age and obesity.

ChatGPT

  1. sleep apnea

    Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder in which an individual's breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. This condition can lead to the brain and the rest of the body not getting enough oxygen. It often results in snoring and fatigue despite a full night's sleep. The two main types of sleep apnea are obstructive sleep apnea, which is caused by a blockage of the airway, often when the soft tissue in the back of the throat collapses during sleep, and central sleep apnea, which occurs when the brain doesn't send proper signals to the muscles that control breathing.

Wikidata

  1. Sleep apnea

    Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder characterized by pauses in breathing or instances of very low breathing during sleep. Each pause in breathing, called an apnea, can last from at least ten seconds to minutes, and may occur 5 to 30 times or more an hour. Similarly, each abnormally low breathing event is called a hypopnea. Sleep apnea is often diagnosed with an overnight sleep test called a polysomnogram, or "sleep study". There are three forms of sleep apnea: central, obstructive, and complex or mixed sleep apnea constituting 0.4%, 84% and 15% of cases respectively. In CSA, breathing is interrupted by a lack of respiratory effort; in OSA, breathing is interrupted by a physical block to airflow despite respiratory effort, and snoring is common. Regardless of type, an individual with sleep apnea is rarely aware of having difficulty breathing, even upon awakening. Sleep apnea is recognized as a problem by others witnessing the individual during episodes or is suspected because of its effects on the body. Symptoms may be present for years without identification, during which time the sufferer may become conditioned to the daytime sleepiness and fatigue associated with significant levels of sleep disturbance.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of sleep apnea in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of sleep apnea in Pythagorean Numerology is: 4

Examples of sleep apnea in a Sentence

  1. Michael Grandner:

    A lot of people think sleep apnea will cause them to suffocate, but it won't, you're still getting enough air to breathe --and if not, your brain will wake you up.

  2. Raj Dasgupta:

    Women with obstructive sleep apnea often get underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed because they may not present with the classic symptoms that we see when we’re evaluating men, maybe we need to ask different questions or look at different parameters, or is there something we’re missing here?

  3. Andrew Freeman:

    Interrupted sleep — especially (in) those with sleep apnea — usually releases catecholamines like adrenaline, which can do all sorts of things if it’s a chronic problem.

  4. Penn Medicine:

    The question then was if you reduce the fat in your tongue, does that improve your sleep apnea ? And the answer from our paper is' yes,'.

  5. Alex Dimitriu:

    People with sleep apnea will report dreams of, like, drowning, suffocating, giant waves, gasping for air, being underwater or being choked.


Translations for sleep apnea

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"sleep apnea." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/sleep+apnea>.

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