What is OSA Obstructive Sleep Apnoea?
September 29th, 2008 by ALVIN SOONG
When doing the sleep apnea test, various equipment (including one that looks like ECG) is strapped to my head and heart. It is a germany equipment that measures Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA). The doctor wanted to see if this has to do with my sinusritis. The result is a negative thankfully.
I went to do some research on OSA online. OSA is a common medical condition affecting 1-5% of total population that is descibed as breathing that stops and starts during sleep. Complete stoppages of breathing are called apnoeas. Partial are called hypopnoeas and takes place when muscles in back of throat relax during sleep Usually lasts 20sec to occasionally 1min. When breathing stops, level of oxygen may drop to low level and the brain senses the decrease will rouse the person from sleep. This is done where throat muscles becomes more active and hold airway open for breathing to resume, resulting in snoring or sometimes awake the person from sleep for breathing to resume.
These eposodes happen so often that one becomes fatigue and sleepy during the day. The result is sleeping when reading/watching tv, or even when driving for serious cases (This can result in accidents). Because lack of sleep is stressful, affected person becomes irritable and undergoes personality changes, or headaches. Heavy Sleep apnoea associates with hypertension and More severe sleep apnoea results in heart failure. OSA may also be a result of overweight. Usually nasal congestion is present and person may breath through mouth, resulting in dryness of mouth in morning
Consult a doctor if one has loud snoring or excessive daytime sleepiness and they may monitor using a test called polysomnography.
