Sleep apnoea is considerably less well known than it should be, considering it affects so many people. But the condition has only really come into the public consciousness in the last 30 years, despite it affecting 10% of men and 4% of women, leading to restless sleep, a number of health problems, and often a distressing moment for anyone else a patient might be sharing a bed with.
Sleep apnoea is a disorder that interrupts how we breathe during our sleep, with pauses or shallow breathing breaking up the regular patterns when the throat closes. Each of these pauses, known as apnoea, can last for several seconds and can be as frequent as five per hour.
And perhaps the biggest problem with sleep apnoea is how deceptive its symptoms are. Snoring, a feeling of tiredness during the day, headaches... a list of complaints so common that they're easy to overlook, even for trained professionals.
“That’s one of the problems with sleep apnoea, the symptoms are often not picked up," Prof Walter McNicholas, from the sleep clinic at St Vincent's University Hospital, recently told George Hook.
"Even if you go to the doctor they’re often not picked up. The major features of sleep apnoea would be that the person snores, but then half the population snores, so it tends not to be taken seriously. And these people, because of the sleep disturbance, tend to be tired and sleepy in the daytime.”
Making time to get good rest
Sleeping is an integral part of a human being’s life, and plays a very important role in our health and wellbeing. It is driven by natural brain activity, and we all need to get enough good quality sleep to ensure our bodies and minds feel fully refreshed. For most adults, that means between seven and eight hours of sleep, and almost 25% of that need to be spent in the deepest part of sleep, the slow wave sleep.
The clearest symptom of sleep apnoea is feeling tired during the day, after feeling like you’ve not gotten any good restful sleep the night before. Add to this loud snoring that precedes periods of quietness, and jumping and kicking while asleep.
Sleep apnoea can run in families, but men and women who are overweight and not taking regular exercise are more likely to suffer. And there can be knock on health implications, with almost half of people presenting with sleep apnoea also suffering from high blood pressure, and are at an increased risk of stroke, heart attack, and diabetes.
As Prof McNicholas told George, the modern world is playing havoc with how we manage to grab a restful 40 winks.
“There are so many lifestyle issues that impact on sleep, and modern society is not conducive to getting a good night’s sleep," he said.
"The old-fashioned notion of the lights being switched off and people going to bed at a reasonable hour and people going to sleep through the night and getting up in the morning... I mean those sort of lifestyle choices aren’t common anymore.”
Behind the mask
Once diagnosed with sleep apnoea, often the most effective treatment requires sleepers to wear a positive-pressure mask throughout the night. This continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) assists wearers' breathing throughout the night. By gently pumping compressed air through the nose, the throat is unable to close meaning the sleeper suffers no apnoea.
The mask isn't always required, and this disorder can often be treated by making lifestyle changes, such as losing weight, quitting smoking, and drinking less.
And we also need to improve what Prof McNicholas refers to as our "sleep hygiene," the various environmental factors that affect how we rest properly.
"Wind down, take some exercise during the evening," Prof McNicholas said. "Wind down. Reading a book is a very good way of winding down. Newstalk in the middle of the night. The worst thing you can do is have a TV in your room. Listening to the radio is far better approach."
And if you're looking for something peaceful to listen to as you wind down this evening, check out the full podcast of Prof Walter McNicholas' discussion with The Right Hook on sleep below:
