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Sleep apnea is an increasingly common sleep disorder which currently affects some 18,000,000 people in the US alone. This figure is roughly 6.62% of the population and does not take into account an additional 2% to 4% of the population who are thought to be suffering from sleep apnea but who have yet to be diagnosed.

However, what many people do not realize is that there are also a surprisingly large and rising number of children who suffer from sleep apnea, with estimates revealing that roughly 2% of all children suffer from obstructive sleep apnea.

When it comes to children sleep apnea merits particularly close attention as at this crucial stage of growth and development apnea can cause memory, IQ and learning difficulties.

In a lot of cases obstructive sleep apnea arises to a large degree from overweight and the first line of attack in treating the problem is thus to shed a bit of weight. But, this is not always as easy as it sounds and frequently fails to ease the problem sufficiently.

For a lot of children the next stage is the use of an oral appliance while sleeping. These oral appliances must be custom made for the child and fitted by an orthodontist and are intended to hold the lower jaw in a position which ensures that the throat remains open while the child sleeps. Again improvement is not always satisfactory with an oral appliance and a lot of children are far from happy wearing them.

The best option when it comes to treating obstructive sleep apnea is the continuous positive airway machine which provides a steady stream of air by way of a mask which the child wears during sleep sleeping and which maintains an open airway.

CPAP machines have proved to be very successful but, as with most treatments, they will only produce sound results when they are used properly and here we come up against a particular problem with children.

In a recent study a number of children having CPAP treatment were followed for six months to see just how closely they followed the advice given for using their CPAP machines. The children were subjected to sleep studies at both the beginning and end of the study period and both they and their parents were questioned by the researchers about their use of the machines. In addition, the machines that were used in the study were all fitted with meters which recorded the use of the machines.

The study found that more than three quarters of the children did not make use of their machines as intended every night and that even those children who used the machines consistently were using them for only about 5 hours a night which was not sufficient to gain the maximum benefit from their use. Possibly most importantly, taking into consideration the fact that many of the children in the study were very young and thus required parental supervision to ensure the correct use of their machines, the study showed that the overwhelming majority of parents overestimated their child’s use of the system by in the region of two hours each night.

At this point, although it is clear that many children are not enjoying the maximum benefit of CPAP treatment, it remains unclear just why they are not using the system properly and further studies are underway to see just what improvements are possible for treating obstructive sleep apnea in children.

Don’t get me wrong, there is no substitute for CPAP when it comes to treating Sleep Apnea. The proper thing to do, if you suspect that you might have it, is to go to a sleep specialist and follow his instructions. He will probably recommend CPAP, surgery, or oral appliance therapy. This list is not necessarily an alternative to CPAP, surgery, or oral appliances, but rather supplementary methods that decrease the probability of airway collapse. Usually these methods are not enough to entirely eliminate apnea. Again, talk to your doctor before attempting to treat sleep apnea.

So here are the six ways:

1. Weight Loss Unless you are extremely overweight AND your sleep apnea is mild, usually weight loss is not enough to entirely eliminate it. But it can definitely help. Weight loss is thought to improve apnea by changing the shape of the airway which decreases the probability of airway collapse.

2. Avoid Alcohol Before Bedtime Alcohol relaxes the muscles in the airway, which worsens snoring and sleep breathing problems. The best advice is to abstain from alcohol, but if you insist on drinking make sure you leave sufficient time for your blood alcohol level to decrease to zero before going to bed.

3. Sleep On Your Side Your bed partner may have already pointed this out to you: when you are on your side, your snoring improves. Sleeping on your back may increase the probability of airway collapse due to gravity’s effect on the jaw and tongue.

4. Elevate the Head of the Bed If you have sleep apnea, you may have noticed that you sleep better in your recliner. As with side-sleeping, it is thought that head elevation may improve sleep apnea by changing the conformation of the airway. A 30 to 60 degree elevation of the head of the bed may lead to improvement in sleep apnea.

5. Avoid Sleep Deprivation There is evidence that sleep deprivation both prolongs breathing problems while sleeping and decreases the chances that you will wake-up from those problems. In other words, current scientific evidence suggests that sleep deprivation worsens sleep apnea. So get more sleep, and sleep breathing may improve.

6. External Nasal Dilation (Breathe Rite Strips) May reduce severity of snoring but probably not effective at treating sleep apnea.

If you think you might have sleep apnea, then you should talk to a sleep specialist. If he suggests that you wear CPAP then DO IT. However, while your waiting to get your CPAP machine, or if you want to enhance your treatment of sleep apnea, then the above methods may help.

How can I tell if I have sleep apnea and how can I treat it?
Diagnosis
The typical patient with sleep apnea is an overweight middle-aged male with a neck size of more than 17 inches. However, the condition is also common in women and not all sufferers are overweight. Almost everybody who has sleep apnea is a snorer, often a very heavy snorer. Pauses in breathing during sleep are commonly noticed by a bed partner but this history is often lacking and up to five “events” per hour are considered normal.
One of the more consistent symptoms is “nonrestorative sleep” meaning that the patient wakes in the morning feeling unrefreshed no matter how much he slept during the night. Excessive daytime sleepiness is common in sleep apnea of any severity but some patients complain of fatigue rather than sleepiness. However, many patients with severe sleep apnea have no complaint of sleepiness or fatigue.
The most accurate diagnostic tool, polysomnography, can confirm the diagnosis and assist the doctor in identifying the type of sleep apnea present. In the past, this test was only done in hospitals and in specialized sleep laboratories. There are now portable sleep recording systems that can perform unattended polysomnography in the patient’s home, but in-laboratory testing with a technician present remains the standard and is required by many insurers including Medicare before they will pay for treatment of sleep apnea.
With advances in portable electronics, patients can now use a small device called a pulse oximeter, which is attached to a fingertip to measure the oxygen saturation of the blood (percent of the total hemoglobin that is combined with oxygen). This non-intrusive monitor measures the difference in the color of the oxygenated and of the deoxygenated hemoglobins. Recordings of blood oxygen saturation during sleep may give an estimate of the severity of the problem although it’s not been the most reliable screening tool.
Treatment
There are a variety of treatments for sleep apnea, depending on an individual’s medical history and the severity of the disorder. Most treatment regimens begin with lifestyle changes, such as avoiding alcohol and medications that relax the central nervous system (for example, sedatives and muscle relaxants), losing weight, and quitting smoking.
Some people are helped by special pillows or devices that keep them from sleeping on their backs. Some cases are treated with oral appliances to keep the airway open during sleep.
If these conservative methods are inadequate, doctors often recommend continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). A face mask is attached to a tube and a machine that blows pressurized air into the mask and through the airway to keep it open. There are also surgical procedures that can be used to remove tissue and widen the airway. Some individuals may need a combination of therapies to successfully treat their sleep apnea.
In conclusion, sleep apnea left untreated can be life threatening. Excessive daytime sleepiness can cause people to fall asleep at inappropriate times, such as while driving. Sleep apnea also appears to put individuals at risk for stroke and transient ischemic attacks (TIAs, also known as “mini- strokes”), and is associated with coronary heart disease, heart failure, irregular heartbeat, heart attack, gout and high blood pressure.
Although there is no cure for sleep apnea, recent studies show that successful treatment can reduce the risk of heart and blood pressure problems.
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Sleep apnea is recognized as a common condition among overweight children. If your child has sleep apnea, he stops breathing for a period of 10 to 20 seconds during sleep. The interruption of breathing may extend up to 2 minutes. This episode may occur hundreds of times in a single night.

Sleep apnea can be caused by complete obstruction of airway or partial obstruction. Therefore obstructive sleep apnea is defined as obstruction of airway during sleep. Due to the obstruction of airway, your child’s sleep gets interrupted. As the sleep is interrupted, your child may feel drowsy during the daytime. This also results in tiredness, headaches, loss of memory, lack of energy and depression.

If your child is a normal weight child, he may have tonsils and adenoids which can be cured with surgery. If you child is overweight, the excess fat may narrow the airway. Excess body fat on the neck and chest constricts the air-passageways and sometimes the lungs.

Obesity, mainly abdominal and upper body obesity, is the most significant risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea. Thus morbid or malignant obesity carries a greater risk.

If your child lies down, the throat muscles relax, the tongue falls back and the airway gets obstructed. Due to the obstructed airway, the oxygen cannot be pumped to various parts of the body. Therefore oxygen levels drop, and your child arouses from sleep to breathe and the cycle begins again. Your child might experience snoring which is the result of sleep apnea.

Snoring results from the vibration of excess tissue – whether it’s fat, large natural anatomy or both – as the child breathes in.

Here are the signs and symptoms so that you can identify that your child is suffering from sleep apnea.

1. Interruption of breathing during sleep. Your child may gasp for breathing when breathing is interrupted.

2. Loud snoring or noisy breathing during sleep. As a parent of your child, you can find if they snore; your child may make all types of strange noises when he is sleeping. But snoring is less common in children.

3. Your child may be having a restless sleep. If your child is having sleep apnea, he is not going to get a good night sleep, as may not be able to breath properly while sleeping.

4. Breathing through the mouth, rather than through the nose.

5. Excessive tiredness or daytime sleepiness during the day.

6. With the inability to breath properly, your child may have difficulty in paying attention and difficulty in concentrating.

7. Your child may be having tonsils and adenoids.

Your child may sleep with his mouth open. You can see his chest retract as he gasps for air, and he sometimes sleep in strange positions. Your child may show signs of depression or outward signs of confusion because he may be generally tired, from lack of sleep. Your child may also show signs of behavior changes as he is not getting the sleep needed.

Due to the presence of some, or indeed many, of these signs does not necessarily mean that your child is suffering from sleep apnea, but it would be better to consult a specialist if he is facing with any of these symptoms.

Today, sleep apnea is being widely recognized as a common disorder amongst children of all ages, and particularly amongst children between the ages of about three and six. Estimates vary, but in the United States alone, the number of children suffering from sleep apnea is put at between one and a half and two million.

Do you snore? Do you feel like you are not getting enough sleep? Do you wake up in the middle of the night gasping for air? Then stop procrastinating. Have your self checked. It might be sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder characterized by marked reduction or cessation of breathing that occurs during sleep, usually lasting 10 to 20 seconds or more. This cessation of breathing decreases the oxygen saturation in the blood and the entire body. This, in turn, triggers a myriad of reactions like gasping for air and restlessness leading to sleep disruption.
The diagnostic test done to evaluate this condition is a polysomnography test or an overnight sleep study wherein your vitals, EKG, breathing pattern, brainwaves, eye and muscle movements, and blood oxygen saturation are recorded and evaluated by a sleep technician while you sleep.
Adults are more commonly affected by sleep apnea. When it occurs in children, the most common causes are enlarged tonsils or adenoids. It is also often observed in babies born prematurely and those with congenital heart defects.
There are two types of sleep apnea: Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and Central Sleep Apnea (CSA). OSA is caused by narrowing or physical obstructions in the airway. Swollen nasal turbinates, a deviated nasal septum, an enlarged uvula, and obesity are the most common causes of obstructions. CSA, on the other hand, is caused by failure of the breathing center of the brain to send a signal to the respiratory breathing muscles to initiate breathing. This is usually brought about by cerebrovascular, cardiovascular, or congenital diseases. CSA is characterized by cessation of breathing that lasts 20 seconds or more…much longer than what occurs in OSA.
It is important that you be able to recognize sleep apnea if you should see someone experiencing it. Common symptoms of sleep apnea are as follows:
?Cessation of breathing during sleep lasting 10 to 20 seconds or more
?Snoring
?Restlessness, gasping or choking in the middle of the night
?Drowsiness and fatigue
?A feeling of being unrested or unrefreshed after sleep
?Lack of concentration and memory loss
?Irritability and personality changes
?Nocturia, heartburn, headaches
Treatment of sleep apnea would depend on what it causing it. If it is obstructive sleep apnea, removal of the obstruction through surgery would be the best intervention. If it is central sleep apnea, the medical condition that is causing the apnea should be addressed first. But there are less invasive ways of managing the symptoms for both types of apnea. One of the following may work for you.
?Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) – today’s sleep apnea treatment of choice.
?Bi-level positive airway pressure (Bi-PAP) – a newer, more improved version of the CPAP. It delivers two different pressure levels, one for when the patient is breathing in and a lower pressure when the patient is breathing out, which makes it more convenient to use.
?Lifestyle changes – weight reduction, cutting back on tobacco and alcohol use.
?Avoiding use of “downers” or medications like sedatives and muscle relaxants. They can suppress the respiratory system.
?Pillar procedure – the newest form of apnea treatment. It involves injection of three small implants into the soft palate. This is less invasive, less risky and less painful than surgery.
?Use of special pillows and dental devices may also help.
Sleep apnea disorders should not be taken lightly because apnea may be a symptom of a more serious medical condition. If left untreated, it can also lead to further health problems like hypertension and insomnia. Prompt evaluation must be initiated as soon as sleep apnea episodes are suspected to find out what is causing it, determine its severity, and to be able to initiate the appropriate treatment regimen and prevent serious complications.

The sleeping problem called sleep apnea is well known today. Certain pauses in the air intake that cause the patients to wake up throughout the night are a major problem faced by many people. People with this sleeping disorder will feel drowsy with severe headache when they wake up. Their whole day will be ruined because of their drowsiness. This article is all about sleep apnea and the treatment options that are available today for this dangerous sleeping disorder.Types Of Sleep ApneaSleep Apnea is classified into three main types such as:Central sleep apnea (CSA), Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and Mixed sleep apnea Before explaining about the different types of this sleeping disorder, we’d like to say that all types of sleep apnea will have the same effects: sleeplessness, drowsiness and severe headache. Now let’s explain more about the three different types of sleep apnea.1. Central Sleep Apnea (CSA)The central type of sleep apnea is closely associated with the brain impulses. Under certain conditions, the brain will fail to send the impulse required to stimulate breathing resulting in some discontinued breath cycle. Central sleep apnea is occurs more often in people who have heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, or congenital diseases. Recent researches indicate that central sleep apnea will can occur as a result of consuming certain kinds of medication.2. Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA)This sleeping disorder is caused due to the narrowing of the air passage than normal. The obstructive sleep apnea can be related to many other medical problems such as high blood pressure, Heart problems, Weight gain, Constant tiredness, Diabetes, Slow metabolism, Memory/concentration problems, Depression, Anxiety, Sore throat and Dry mouth. 3. Mixed sleep apneaAs the name indicates, this type of sleep apnea is a combination of both central sleep apnea and obstructive sleep apnea. The treatment options available for Sleep apnea:Unlike the past, today there are many treatment options available for the treatment of this sleeping disorder. CPAP therapy is widely used for the treatment of sleep apnea. This therapy involves air that is pushed into the respiratory system with the help of a special device called a CPAP machine. The machine is hooked up to a CPAP mask that resembles a ventilator in looks and pumps air into the air passage when the sleep apnea cycle occurs.The Difficulties of using CPAP masksPeople using the CPAP masks have reported five main difficulties like:* Air leakage* Pressure from headgear* Limited sleep positions* Skin irritation* NoiseThe Solution:All the 5 difficulties associated with the traditional CPAP masks are overcome by a technological breakthrough. Various researches confirm that the latest invention called “SleepWeaver CPAP mask” eliminates all the 5 difficulties involved in the traditional CPAP therapy.

Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder that occurs when a person stops breathing repeatedly while sleeping.  Sleep apnea can affect anyone at any age, including children.  Risk factors include being overweight, male gender, being over forty years of age, having a family history of sleep apnea, having a larger neck size, or having larger tonsils.  If left untreated sleep apnea could lead to hypertension, stroke, or heart problems such as a heart attack, heart failure, or irregular heart beat.  Sleep apnea can cause you to be less productive at work or school and increases your chances of having a car accident because of your sleep loss.  There are two types of sleep apnea: obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea.  Before diagnosing sleep apnea you must understand what it is.  Sleep apnea occurs when someone has completely stopped breathing for 10 seconds or more while they are sleeping.  Sometimes these apnea episodes completely wake a person, other times they just bring someone to a shallow level of sleep from a deep level.  This interrupted sleep may not be noticed by the person with the sleep apnea, instead it may alert your bed partner.  There are two types of sleep apnea: central sleep apnea and obstructive sleep apnea.  Central sleep apnea occurs when the brain doesn’t send the signal to breathe to the breathing muscles.  This is more common in people with brain injuries or heart diseases.  Obstructive sleep apnea means the airway has actually been obstructed by your tongue going backwards or enlarged tonsils.  Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder.If you have symptoms of sleep apnea your doctor may ask you to have a sleep apnea test done at a sleep disorder center.  This test would be done after a physical exam and medical history.  People who have sleep apnea in their family history are at a higher risk for sleep apnea themselves.  A sleep study (polysomnogram) is a multiple-component test that electronically transmits and records specific physical activities while you are sleeping.  In a polysomnogram an EEG is used to record brain wave activity, an EMG records such things as teeth grinding, an EOG to record eye movements which tells the sleep stage you are in, an EKG for your heart rate, a nasal airflow sensor to record airflow, and a snore microphone records your snoring activity.  All of these results are then read by a sleep specialist and given to your doctor to determine if you have sleep apnea.If you have a mild case of obstructive sleep apnea you may be able to fix the problem by doing some behavioral changes.  These changes include changing your position while sleeping; sometimes apneas occur only in a certain position which is usually lying flat on your back.  Obesity is a contributive factor to obstructive sleep apnea.  Losing 10% of your body weight would improve your sleep apnea.  Some people with sleep apnea find this hard to do because the sleep loss leaves them too tired to exercise; in turn making them gain more weight which worsens the sleep apnea.  If the apnea is treated a different way it usually leads to people being able to lose weight since they won’t be as tired.