| Is Sleep Harming Your Health?
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Is your sleep harming your health? Do you or someone you know suffer from sleep apnoea or snoring? Find out more about how these disorders can harm your health, and what you can do to relieve them by using a natural breathing technique.
On Monday November 21, the BBC’s Real Life highlighted the dangers of sleep apnoea. The programme exposed the catastrophic consequences of sleep apnoea for serious traffic accidents. 30% of all serious accidents in the UK involve a driver falling asleep: these accidents can have serious or fatal consequences because they tend to occur at high speed with no evidence of avoiding action. In recent surveys 19-27% of people with Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) admit to having fallen asleep while driving. The financial cost of a traffic accident that involves a fatality is estimated at more than £1.3 million: the emotional cost to the people involved is incalculable.
We’re all familiar with the sounds that indicate the disordered breathing of snoring and the tiredness that comes from its disruptive effect. However, do you recognise these common symptoms of OSA that include:
excessive day-time sleepiness
loss of energy, fatigue
high blood pressure
difficulty concentrating
mood changes?
Doctors use The Epworth Sleepiness Scale to evaluate Sleep Disordered Breathing (SDB): http://www.stanford.edu/%7Edement/epworth.html. Another valuable source of information is from bed partners who can have a more accurate view of the sufferer’s quality of sleep. Understanding the impact of SDB, what would improving your sleep be worth to you?
OSA is characterised by a partial collapse of the upper airways during sleep, which leads to a pause in breathing for 10 seconds or more. The sleeper then wakes up, with a surge of blood pressure, and begins to breathe again. He or she then falls back asleep without necessarily being aware of the incident. This can happen repeatedly during the course of an hour and up to several hundred times a night. After eight hours of ‘sleep’, the sufferer wakes unrefreshed, unable to think clearly and can be irritable.
The symptoms of OSA can lead to a reduced quality of life, lower productivity at work, and difficulties in relationships and family life. In addition, there are many well established links to other health conditions: the most serious of these are the increased risk of heart disease, strokes and diabetes. Other areas of concern are an increase in blood pressure, irregular heartbeat and metabolic disorders. The sleepiness of OSA can lead to accidents at work (or at home). The consequences can be disastrous both for the affected individuals and others who might be caught up in their accidents. Simply changing the way that you breathe can go a long way to reducing your symptoms and associated risks.
Lifestyle factors are contributing to a general rise in the incidence of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). Sleep apnoea is one of the more serious SDBs, and snoring is typically milder although just as disruptive. Snoring seems trivial and even funny unless you are one of the 1/3 men or 1/10 women affected by night time disturbance or broken sleep (and the chronic tiredness that this brings). It is no joke for partners or other members of the family who can be subjected to noise levels that can be as loud as a passing train. Both the snorer and the people around them can suffer unrefreshing sleep with the daytime fatigue that it causes. Snoring is likewise related to a number of other health conditions that can have a serious impact on the well-being of sufferers and their families. SDBs can harm your health. Changing your breathing habits can help ensure your sleep improves your health.
The Buteyko Breathing Method has been used successfully to reduce the symptoms of SDB. At a recent workshop one of the participants who had been diagnosed with OSA complained, “I still don’t get a full night’s sleep because I sleep so quietly now that the wife keeps prodding me awake to check that I’m still alive!”. Buteyko is easy to learn and simple to use. Buteyko is available at the Natural Therapy Centre in Hertford and Welwyn Garden City.
To find more about how Buteyko Breathing can help you, look at www.breathcoach.co.uk or call Tony on 01279 437 049. If you or someone close to you suspect that you have sleep apnoea then you should consult your doctor as soon as possible.
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