Having difficulty falling and staying asleep at night is one of the worst things you can go through after a hard day. All you want to do is rest and recoup after hours of work and socializing, only to find your head keeps buzzing with stressful thoughts and it takes you hours to drift off into dreamland. For some, that sleep never comes at all. Who do you turn to when it starts to have an effect on your daily life? Insomnia and sleep apnea is a sad reality for millions of American adults on a semi-weekly to nightly basis.
The list below can help you better figure out if you have a sleeping disorder, from a simple diagnosis to products that are proven to encourage a healthy REM cycle.
While you should always get a professional diagnosis, it can help to check off your symptoms to help you get started. Sleep apnea is one of many sleeping disorders that disturbs a healthy night’s rest and causes people’s health to suffer. It affects over 18 million Americans at any given time, with around 4% going years without being diagnosed. It is characterized by ‘apneas’, or interruptions, that occur every hour on the hour.
It’s thought that the average night’s sleep for a sleep apnea sufferer can see as many as 60 interruptions per hour. This, of course, is for more severe cases — everyone’s sleeping disorder is a little different, making a professional diagnosis all the more important to make sure you’re getting the most accurate help possible. Not only is this necessary to make sure you’re well-rested, undiagnosed sleep apnea is also known for contributing to long-term health conditions.
People who go years without treating their sleep apnea, whether moderate or severe, have a higher risk of developing chronic illnesses. An untreated case of sleep apnea can increase a person’s risk of stroke by four times, with additional studies also suggesting sleep apnea sufferers have three times the risk of heart disease later in their life. Last, but not least, asthma patients were found to have a 40% higher risk for sleep apnea than those without. Rather than wait for your sleeping disorder to chip away at your health, see how a respironics CPAP or best CPAP mask can help.
An acronym for ‘constant positive airway pressure’, a CPAP machine is used to open up your airways to promote steadier breathing — this is especially useful for people who snore heavily and have it contribute to their already frustrating sleep apnea patterns. These come in many forms, from a portable CPAP full face mask to a larger auto CPAP machine. Which respironics CPAP technology works for you can be better determined through the aid of a sleep professional.
To help your diagnosis be as quick and efficient as possible you need to make a list for your doctor to look over. Determine how long you’ve been struggling with your sleep disorder, how many interruptions you seem to experience at any given hour and what life factors could also be contributing to your stress. They will then figure out if you need medication, lifestyle changes or a respironics CPAP to help you sleep more easily at night.
Your sleeping disorder doesn’t have to be a major part of your life. With a little help and a high quality CPAP machine, it can even be a relic of the past.
