Posted by Bird Watcher on August 31, 2008 at 19:39:04:In Reply to: Is This Sleep Apnea? posted by Bella on August 31, 2008 at 01:17:55:
Your description would lead me to believe you had an apnea that night, but this doesn't necessarily mean you have Obstructive Sleep Apnea, a disorder that should be treated. Anyone can have an apnea during sleep on any given night. Things that could bring this on (while asleep) would be an odor in the air that you can't wake from, a rapid change in the humidity or temperature in the bedroom that doesn't wake you, or problems digesting something you ate before bedtime, (that doesn't wake you).
BTW, An apnea is defined as a 75-100% reduction in ventilation for more than 10 seconds.
The need for sleep is very important and the risk that something will go wrong short term during sleep is less important to our bodies than having sleep in every 24 hr period. Example: When something goes wrong with the environment we sleep in, our bodies may not be able to wake us. A good example of this is smoke from a fire. Smoke can be very harmful and cause us to stop breathing. That's why smoke detectors have a loud noise or bright light as a warning alarm. There may be other changes in the bedroom during the evening that influence our breathing.
OSA is a disorder that repeats most nights for the person, and there are a series of apneas or hyponeas every hour. Funny thing is that the person sometimes doesn't realize that this is going on! The only symptom (usually) is daytime sleepiness (beyond normal) that affects his or her abilities to live a normal life.
If you have frequent daytime sleepiness that is affecting your life, it may be time to see your doctor about a sleep test. If this is not usually the case, you should do some evening pre-planning before bedtime for your bedroom to be sure the environment can or will be stable for up to 8 hrs.