Are you disrupting your partner’s sleep with your loud and regular snoring? Do you choke while you sleep or do you fall asleep on your office table even if you had a sound sleep the previous night? If yes, then its time to consult a pulmonologist as it indicates that you could be a patients of sleep apnea and may need immediate medical attention.Sleep apnea, are breathing obstruction that cause the sleeper to wake up multiple times to breath properly. For 23-year-old Raja, this disorder proved dearer when he started sleeping during his classes. Repeated warnings and punishments could not help and finally parents were called to meet the college authorities.Realising her son was not deliberately doing this, his mother took him to the pulomologists who diagnosed him with obstructive sleep apnea, which is the most common type of sleep apnea and occurs when the soft tissue in the back of the throat relaxes during sleep, causing a blockage of the airway.Another case is when Upendra missed colliding with a bus while riding his scooter. After a couple of repeated episodes of close shaves with accidents and upon his visit to the doctor, he was diagnosed with sleep apnea. According to the experts, untreated sleep apnea prevents one from getting a good night’s sleep.When breathing is paused, the person is jolted out of his natural sleep rhythm.It can be dangerous and detrimental to health. Overweight is also known to be a major risk factor of the condition. Dr Shiv Kumar Veeraiaha, HOD department of physiology, Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) says that because of the disturbed sleep, a person feels confused and is not able to concentrate on his work during day time.However, this fatal disease is not only confined to snoring or disturbed sleep but it also leads to improper functioning of heart, stroke, pulmonary hyper tension, diabetes and cholesterol.Sleep apena: major cause of road accidents: Speaking with City Express Dr HB Chandrashekar, HOD department of pulmonary medicine at Mahavir Jain Hospital which receives 30 to 40 patients going for sleep test every month in its sleep lab, says, we have the database of 3,000 patients and of them 12 per cent have involved in some kind of road accidents or just missed the accidents.Patients with sleep apnea have more chances of accidents than a person who consumes alcohol or has epileptic fits.He also maintained that ‘head on collision and near misses are some of the most common in sleep apena. Lack of awareness about sleep apnea: “Though sleep apnea in treatable. However it often goes unrecognised due to lack of awareness about the disease among people. People do not know much about the disease. Now in order to educate people, we are regularly conducting lecture programme for medical practitioners,” added Dr Chandrashkar.Sleep test: Sleep test or studies are done to measure how much and how well does one sleep. It also checks how long has one been facing a problem with the same. Its severity and frequent episodes of obstructed breathing during sleep are another topic that are observed during the tests. Now with more increased incidents, not only private but government hospital are also studying the sleep patterns.Bangalore medical college and Research Institute has started sleep pattern in association with the ENT department.
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