Breathing problems when sleeping, have serious and widespread health effects beyond just feeling tired. Your body needs sleep to function correctly. While sleeping, your body repairs chemical balances and heals damaged processes. New bonds and memories are laid down in your brain. Without adequate sleep, brain and body systems start to malfunction and harm your quality of life.
Considering its focal role, it is no surprise that inadequate sleep can have a notable toll on your body. Specifically, sleep deprivation can undermine cognition, immune function, and physical performance. It also influences your ability to manage stress and control your emotions.
Even if you are getting the recommended 7-9 hours of shut-eye at night, you may be missing out on restful sleep. Nighttime waking incidents can cause overwhelming daytime fatigue, and add up to weight gain, hormonal imbalances, and lead to severe ailments like cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Instead of venturing to address the sleep issue directly, take the time to diagnose the origin of your sleep issue and treat it to reduce your symptoms.
Daytime breathing means nighttime problems
If you are undergoing respiratory issues while you are awake, you can be sure they are also hitting your quality of sleep. Allergic reactions to air pollutants in your home contribute to sleep dysfunctions by inflaming sinus and airway tissues, making it difficult to breathe.
Inflamed and irritated tissues can make partially obstructed breathing. Respiration pauses produced by the partial or full collapse of the airways are the most prevalent factor that interferes with regular sleep patterns.
Snoring, generated by the vibrations of obstructing soft tissues, is a reliable sign of sleep-disordered breathing.
Respiratory Problems Cause Snoring
Snoring is the most common breathing-related sleep problem. While snoring is not life-threatening by itself, it seriously impacts the overall quality of sleep. Chronic snoring is the sole best sign of sleep-disordered breathing.
If your sleeping companion indicates you have a chronic snoring issue, it’s necessary to rid your home of smoke and airborne irritants that contribute to breathing issues. Inflammation of throat and sinuses frequently produces irregular air flow during snoring.
Reducing the pollution ends in fewer allergy manifestations, making it easier to breathe and get restful sleep at night. Decreasing the inflammation and irritation caused by allergies can dramatically decrease snoring symptoms.
Respiratory Issues Cause You to Stop Breathing
Obstructive sleep apnea is a dangerous disease which leads to cyclic, temporary breathing pauses during sleep which manifests as alarming choking and snoring noises as the individual tries to breathe during sleep and the body jars itself awake to resume regular breathing patterns.
In many situations sleep apnea is caused by a collapse of the pharynx as it relaxes when the person falls asleep. Less commonly, it is the effect of the individual’s tongue falling back to their upper airway. In both cases, the airways narrow modifying airflow and oxygen uptake into the body.
Respiratory Issues Cause Adrenaline Releases
The breathing disruption caused by respiratory issues causes an overnight rise in blood pressure during the episodes, sparking the sympathetic nervous system to produce adrenaline. Jolts of the hormone, adrenaline, produce faster heart rates and increased blood pressure variability, both of which disturb natural sleeping patterns.
Respiratory Problems Cause You to Wake More Frequent
With obstructive sleep apnea, the brain and body become oxygen deprived.
The breathing troubles that interfere with your oxygen intake lessen blood oxygen levels. Your body will be more awake or fully awake under these circumstances, driving to daytime fatigue and sleepiness.
How to Control ‘Breathing-Related Sleep Disorders’
The management of breathing-related sleep disorder profoundly relies on adequate information as to prevent triggers, e.g., lying on one’s back. Though, improvements in technology have led to the development of multiple devices that have proven catalysts for the management of such dysfunctions.
An efficient method of fighting snoring is via the use of anti-snoring oral devices which work by moving the jaw and the tongue naturally to promote the opening of the airway.
An example of a device for the management of obstructive apnea is a tongue retaining device (TRD), which works by holding the tongue ahead while asleep stopping it from falling back into the throat and creating obstructions.
Final Thoughts
Sleep is a vital part of everyday life, and perturbations in this process can harshly impact on the overall well-being of a person.
Breathing problems when sleeping, are one of the most constant factors interfering with sleep by reducing airflow and decreasing the quantity of oxygen taken up by the body eventually breaking the natural sleep cycle of an individual.
While breathing-related sleep disorders are a great nuisance to an individual, they can efficiently be managed by avoiding triggers and by employing medical devices that prevent restrictions in airflow.