Are you facing difficulty sleeping at night due to snoring and troubled breathing? Snoring is multifactorial and is often considered a nuisance or a social issue, but sleep apnea is a medical condition. If your sleep apnea remains untreated for long periods of time, it may lead to serious complications of the lungs and the heart. In this health article we bring forward to you some insights about interrupted sleep at night due to troubled breathing otherwise known as obstructive sleep apnea.

What is obstructive sleep apnea?

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a medical condition causing erratic breathing cycles or lack of breath while you sleep. OSA is characterized by repeated episodes of stopping and starting breathing while you sleep.

Mechanism of obstructive sleep apnea

OSA is typically caused due to excessive relaxation of the upper airway muscles responsible for normal breathing. Due to the excessive relaxation, these muscles collapse to the back of your neck causing airway narrowing or closing as you breathe in, leading to a transitory halt in breathing. This leads to fall in oxygen levels in the bloodstream, leading to decreased oxygen supply to the brain and your brain forces you awake with sudden and jerky interrupted sleep to reopen your airway. This pattern may continue several times during the night resulting in an incomplete sleep. 

Causes of obstructive sleep apnea

  • Excessive weight and obesity
  • Physiological weakening of the upper airway muscles due to progressing age
  • A neck with greater circumference (thick neck)
  • Congenitally narrow neck
  • Hormonal changes (hypothyroidism)
  • Nasal congestion or deviated nasal septum
  • Smoking, alcohol consumption, and substance abuse
  • Certain medical conditions such as high blood pressure, chronic lung diseases, uncontrolled diabetes, previous history of stroke, congestive heart failure, PCOS, etc

Symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea

OSA symptoms during night
  • Loud snoring
  • Multiple episodes of jerky waking up in between sleep
  • Choking spells during sleep
  • Dryness in the throat 
  • Feeling intolerable hot/cold at night
  • Bad quality of sleep or incomplete sleep
  • Loss of libido
  • Nighttime urination

OSA symptoms during night

  • Waking up with a headache
  • Excessive drowsiness throughout the day
  • Lack of energy throughout the day
  • Poor concentration and memory
  • Irritability, mood swings, and depression
  • High blood pressure
  • Swollen legs

Treatment of obstructive sleep apnea

Milder cases of OSA are treated with:

  • Lifestyle changes such as losing weight, quitting smoking and alcohol
  • Recommending breathing devices such as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), oral devices, adaptive servo ventilation (ASV)
  • Treating the underlying medical conditions
  • Breathing exercises and oropharyngeal exercises

Severe cases of OSA are treated surgically with:

  • Tissue shrinkage or removal - involves shrinkage or removal of tissues at the back of the mouth and top of the throat, to prevent collapsing of the airway
  • Jaw repositioning to enlarge the airway space behind the tongue

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