Is your partner telling you that when you snore it sounds like a baby dinosaur? Are you waking up thinking you had a good night’s sleep but you don’t feel refreshed and feel tired during the day? These are two common signs of sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a condition in which at brief periods of time while sleeping, you stop breathing. These disturbances during sleep generally go unnoticed but can ultimately affect your ability to function during the day and cause other issues if left untreated.
Did you know?
The most common sleep apnea is obstructive sleep apnea, when something obstructs the airway of your nose, mouth or throat. The other less common type is central sleep apnea when nothing blocks the airway but the brain, for whatever reason, doesn’t get your breathing muscles going. Some people have both types. But regardless of what kind of sleep apnea you have, the result is the same; you have a hard time breathing when you’re asleep. What usually results is a drop in your blood oxygen level which then triggers your brain to wake you up just enough to get you breathing again. Usually, this isn’t enough to wake you up completely, but it’s just enough to keep you from getting the good night’s sleep you need to function well.
Fortunately, there are safe, easy and relatively inexpensive options available for the treatment of sleep apnea. They are called continuous positive airway pressure machines, or CPAP machines. There are also used CPAP machines that are even more cost-effective. They consist of a mask that slips over your mouth and connects into your nose. A tube connects the mask to a small generator that delivers air with enough pressure to overcome the obstruction of sleep apnea. CPAP masks act as a sort of splint for your airways as it keeps them open like a splint would keep a broken bone or sprained ankle in the right position. CPAP machines, used CPAP machines, and nasal pillows are one of the simplest treatments in all of medicine because all they do is facilitate air flow.
If you have the symptoms, don’t condemn yourself to a terrible night’s sleep every night and risk the potential dangers of sleep apnea, get yourself a CPAP machine or pick from used CPAP machines to simply and quietly fix the issue. You’ll be better able to face the day and your partner will thank you for saving them from having to sleep in Jurassic Park.
