With the busy lives that many lead nowadays, it can be ordinary to feel tired during the day due to a limited amount of sleep every night. Regrettably, those that do not receive enough deep, restorative sleep each time that they go to bed will be at risk for a multitude of health complications. For some of these individuals, it may in fact be sleep apnea that is the culprit for their deficiency of revitalizing sleep. This is a very normal condition that is often the byproduct of conditions within the mouth, throat, and jaw. For these patients, it is greatly important to keep cognizant of the common symptoms, causes, cures, and treatment options for sleep apnea.
Many individuals associate sleep apnea with loud, chronic snoring. While this is a very common symptom of sleep apnea, not all those that snore have sleep apnea. Some of the other most typical symptoms include daytime sleepiness no matter how many hours one stays in bed, dry mouth when an individual wakes up, fitful sleep, insomnia, frequent sleepwalk, moodiness, irritability, and depression.
In its most main form, sleep apnea is an blockage of one's proper breathing while they are asleep. These are primarily pauses during the individual's breathing for 10 to 20 seconds and this can occur hundreds of times in a single night. This will keep the individual from achieving the correct amount of deep sleep that they need, only allowing them to reach a light sleep throughout the night. Patients of all ages can be struggling with sleep apnea, and it is important to get it treated as quickly as possible for those that have sleep apnea or believe that they may have some of the symptoms.
There are a few demographics that are at a much higher risk of this medical condition. These include individuals that are overweight, those with family history of sleep apnea, male population, and those over the age of 65. Many times, this condition can be fixed with a few simple changes to one's lifestyle including increased exercise, better eating habits, weight loss, and steering clear of alcoholic beverages and caffeine before bedtime.
For more advanced stages of sleep apnea, all patients should speak with their dentist at length to see what options may be available to them. CPAP machines may be necessary while the patient explores other solutions such as the loss of weight or a comprehensive surgery on the soft tissue of one's mouth.
The longer that this condition is left untreated the higher the chances that an individual will have at causing serious damage to their body with months and even years without restorative sleep. With some of these advanced treatment options though, this condition can often be cured quickly and affordably.
At Northridge Dental Group our Northridge dentist and Northridge cosmetic dentist offers a variety of dental treatments to help all individuals with their oral care needs.