Sleep Apnea Essay

Sleep Apnea Essay

Since the dawn of time humans, for some reason or another has had difficulty with sleep. The cause could vary from the rock pillow was too hard to a pea under the mattress. We have now come to learn that a disorder called sleep apnea could be the reason. According to the National Institutes of Health approximately 12 million United States citizens were afflicted by this disorder (Singer). The Greek word Apnea means without breath and sleep apnea is an involuntary cessation of breathing that occurs while a person is asleep (American Sleep Apnea Association). There are three different types of sleep apnea, when the back of the throat closes called Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), for Central Sleep Apnea the brain "forgets" to signal muscles to ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...Many who contract OSA complain of depression, irritability, and decreased mental acuity. Some research has linked lower oxygen levels in the brain to depression and OSA, as earlier discussed lowers oxygen blood levels. Irritability also increases with sleep deprivation. The brain has to "wake up" several times a night to force the body to breathe and this usually happens without the person completely waking up. More often than not the affected individual does not even know that this happens. This also decreases mental acuity. Often people affected by OSA can fall asleep anywhere or anytime. It is not uncommon for them to fall asleep watching television or even

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