We know the struggle of going through a day at work running on little to no sleep. We wake up in a foul mood and begin the day in the same state. We arrive to work, sit down at our workspace, and mentally prepare ourselves for the task at hand – work. It seems quite tedious in the moment: “Why did I come to work today? I am not in the mood to deal with anything at all; I should have called in and stayed in bed.” However, looking back to the previous night, we find that this foul attitude could have been prevented had we gone to sleep just a little bit earlier than normal.

Throughout your day, you develop a headache. You find yourself having trouble staying awake despite the multiple cups of coffee you have already consumed, and cannot seem to concentrate on any work-related issue. A game plane is established: tonight, after dinner, you are going to take a long, hot bathe to relax, put on your most comfortable pajamas, and get to bed early. You are going to get more then enough rest and wake up refreshed for the upcoming day. When you get home, you do exactly as you planed. It takes a little longer to fall asleep than you would expect considering how tired you are, but you still manage to fall asleep earlier than the previous night.

You wake up the next morning expecting the world to be all sunshine and daises as you were able to get so much rest. However, you find yourself waking up the same way as the previous day – in a foul mood. You just woke up but already feel tired and irritated. This is not the first night that this has happened, and at this point, you are tired or being tired all the time. Something needs to change.

You speak with your doctor, hoping he/she can figure out that the heck is going out on with you. After explaining that has been going on to your doctor, he/she informs you that you may suffer from sleep apnea. The doctor tells you that 1 in 5 American adults are diagnosed with sleep apnea and they don’t even know it. This is the first time you are hearing about it, so when you get home you do some research.

Sleep apnea is a chronic sleep disorder in which the patient stops breathing or shallow breathing occurs during the sleep process for a few seconds. Due to the restriction of airflow, a patient tends to snore, blood flow is decreased to the lack of oxygen to the brain, there may be an increase in blood pressure, etc. Some of the main causes of sleep apnea are being overweight, large tonsils, heart or kidney failure, or genetics – meaning it could be hereditary (gee, thanks, mom and dad!).

The symptoms include daytime sleepiness – consistently being tired, — falling asleep easily – at work or, perhaps, behind the wheel (yikes!), — a decrease in attention or activities that you once found engaging. Headaches, constant tiredness, depression and anxiety are also common symptoms among women who suffer from sleep apnea, although sleep apnea is more common among men.

Left untreated there is no telling what can happen. Studies show that sleep apnea can increase the risk of asthma, certain cancers and eye disorders, and cause complications in pregnancy. The best way to treat this condition is to use a CPAP machine and to make simple lifestyle changes – eating healthier and exercising regularly.

For more information, please visit: https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/sleep-apnea

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