The deadly thing you do in your sleep

• Patients snore, choke, and gasp 20 to 30 times per hour throughout the night.
• Your body is deprived of oxygen, increasing your risk of stroke and heart attack.
• Read more: Exclusive – Do you laugh like crazy in your sleep?

One in five Americans has a potentially fatal sleep disorder that causes them to stop breathing and cut off oxygen to the brain.

Sleep apnea is a common sleep-related condition where breathing stops and starts again during the night, putting your body at risk of becoming dangerously deprived of the oxygen it needs.

Patients snore, choke, and gasp 20 to 30 times an hour throughout the night, which causes them to wake up many times involuntarily, meaning their body isn’t getting enough rest. To do.

Some people may not be aware that they have the disease, but their partner may notice that they gasp for air during sleep. Tests are also usually done to diagnose sleep apnea. This test connects you to a device that monitors your breathing patterns and blood oxygen levels while you sleep.

When you stop breathing for more than 10 seconds at a time, oxygen levels in your blood drop, increasing your risk of high blood pressure, stroke, and heart attack in the future.

As part of the treatment of sleep apnea syndrome,Patients often need to wear a device called a continuous positive airway pressure machine, or CPAP machine, while they sleep.

Approximately 18 million Americans have been diagnosed with this disease. president joe biden.

In June, the White House revealed that Biden, 80, had begun using a CPAP machine to treat his sleep apnea after noticing visible dimples on his face, which was caused by a machine. Many people speculated that it might be something like that.

This machine delivers a steady flow of pressurized air into your nose and mouth, keeping your airways open and optimizing your breathing while you sleep.

a study A much-debated paper published Tuesday in the journal JAMA found that consistent use of a CPAP machine can prevent cardiovascular disease in high-risk people.

Using a CPAP machine for more than 4 hours while sleeping Reduces risk of stroke, heart attack, or cardiac arrest.

Loud, choppy snoring is a common symptom of sleep apnea, but not everyone with sleep apnea snores. However, if your snoring is accompanied by symptoms such as sudden cessation of breathing during sleep, episodes of choking or gasping, excessive daytime sleepiness, difficulty concentrating, or high blood pressure, you may be suffering from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). ) may indicate.

OSA is the most common type of sleep apnea, affecting an estimated 1 in 5 U.S. adults, but many cases go undiagnosed.

people with severe OSAPeople who wake up more than 30 times an hour have an increased risk of dying from any cause and can shorten their lifespan by up to 10 years.

People with moderate OSA who wake up 15 to 30 times per hour are 72% more likely to die.

The increased risk of heart attack and stroke for people with sleep apnea is a major contributing factor to the increased risk of death.

Another type of sleep apnea is central sleep apnea. This occurs when the brain does not send the signals necessary for breathing.

Overall, men are two to three times more likely to develop sleep apnea than women, but obesity and older age are the biggest risk factors.

This condition occurs when the muscles that support the throat relax, causing the airway to narrow and collapse, preventing air from entering and exiting the nose and mouth.

When this happens, you may stop breathing for more than 10 seconds at a time until a reflex kicks in and breathing returns to its normal pace. Often, the person may wake up and notice a pattern of dry mouth and lingering fatigue without realizing that anything has happened. .

Attempting to breathe against a collapsed airway ultimately deprives the body of essential oxygen.

Despite normal blood oxygen levels, Fluctuations around 90-95%people who sleep with apnea will see these levels plummet into the 80s and even into the 70s.

Oxygen saturation levels usually return to normal once breathing resumes, but for people with OSA who are breathing irregularly throughout the night, permanent health problems can occur.

For example, frequent drops in blood oxygen levels have been shown to increase blood pressure and increase the incidence of hypertension.

In fact, high blood pressure and sleep apnea are closely related. Approximately 30 to 40 percent of people with sleep apnea have high blood pressure, and OSA can worsen high blood pressure.

People with OSA are more likely to have a heart attack.of American Thoracic Society They report that people with untreated sleep apnea are twice as likely to have a heart attack later in life than people without OSA.

Of all Americans hospitalized, Coronary artery disease, a condition characterized by a buildup of cholesterol in the arteries that narrows blood vessels and prevents the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the heart, is found in 70% of people with OSA.

Older adults are more likely to develop sleep apnea. The older a person gets, the more sleep apnea becomes, as research shows that the risks associated with age-related cardiovascular changes, including an increased risk of heart attack, increase significantly. The effects of sleep apnea can be more severe.