Obstructive sleep apnea is a serious disease that carries great risks to human health and requires mandatory treatment. If you suspect sleep apnea, you should contact a somnologist for diagnosis and treatment.

easiest way to detect sleep apnea is to observe a sleeping person. He usually starts snoring immediately after falling asleep. Soon the patient suddenly stops breathing. At this time, inhalations and exhalations are not heard, snoring stops. However, the patient tries to breathe, which can be seen from the movements of the chest and abdominal wall. After about 15-60 seconds, the person snores loudly and takes several deep breaths, followed by respiratory arrest again. As a rule, the patient sleeps very restlessly: he turns in bed, moves his arms and legs, sometimes says something.

The frequency and duration of respiratory arrest ( sleep apnea ) depends on the severity of the disease. In a severe form of the disease, cyclic sleep apnea occurs almost immediately after falling asleep and in any position of the body. In less severe forms, this occurs only in the deep stages of sleep or when the patient sleeps on his back. Sleep apnea is greatly aggravated after drinking alcohol shortly before sleep.

Watch the video, which clearly shows how this serious disease develops.

A number of useful remarks for physicians. Examination often does not reveal serious changes in organs and systems in patients with sleep apnea . The main attention should be paid to the obstruction of the upper respiratory tract: hypersthenic constitution with a short thick neck, obesity, retro- and micrognathia (“beveled” and displaced backwards lower jaw), chronic nasal obstruction, hypothyroidism (swelling of visceral tissues and decreased muscle tone).

It is necessary to pay attention to the specific hormonal disorders that occur against the background of severe forms of sleep apnea . As you know, the production of a number of hormones is circadian in nature. In particular, this applies to somatotropic hormone and testosterone, whose secretion peaks are noted in the deep stages of sleep. In sleep apnea, the deep stages of sleep are practically absent, which leads to insufficient production of these hormones. One of the functions of growth hormone in adults is the regulation of fat metabolism and, in particular, the mobilization of fat from the depot.

With a lack of growth hormone, stored fat cannot be converted into energy. Thus, all the resulting surpluses fall as a “dead weight” that cannot be claimed. A person begins to gain weight, and any efforts, dietary or medication, aimed at losing weight, are ineffective . Moreover, fat deposits in the neck lead to further narrowing of the airways and the progression of sleep apnea , and this in turn exacerbates the lack of somatotropin. Thus, a vicious circle is created, which is almost impossible to break without special treatment for sleep apnea . The lack of testosterone in the body leads to a decrease in libido and impotence in men.