Royal Oak and Birmingham, MI
If you suffer from chronic fatigue, your sleep problems could be stemming from sleep apnea, a disorder in which the airway collapses during sleep, resulting in snoring or gasping for air.
Ultimately, this sleep breathing disorder affects your health, increasing your risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and more, although snoring and fatigue are one of the first warning signs you may have this sleep-breathing disorder.
To protect your health, and essentially save your life, check out these common indicators of sleep apnea.
One of the most telltale signs of sleep apnea is frequent, loud snoring. You may not even be aware that you snore unless someone sleeps with you, and reports the behavior to you. The reason snoring occurs in sleep apnea sufferers is the blockage of the airway that restricts airflow. Sleep apnea causes the brain to slightly awaken out of a deep sleep as if the body were choking, hence the gasping or snoring sounds.
If your snoring only occurs during bouts of sickness, you probably have nothing to worry about. Although snoring is extremely common among sleep apnea sufferers, it is not the only symptom to look out for when determining if you have sleep apnea.
Fatigue is another symptom associated with sleep apnea. Since the body is constantly being awakened during sleep, it is not getting the rest that it needs to thrive and feel rejuvenated. Sleep apnea sufferers are at a higher risk of being involved in an accident because of their frequent fatigue.
Fatigue can be as mild as feeling drained by mid-day, to totally interrupting your life, and leading to depression. If you feel as though you get enough hours of sleep each night, yet still feel tired all of the time, you could have sleep apnea without even realizing it.
Memory problems also occur in a person with sleep apnea. If you find that you have difficulty remembering simple things like appointments, or meetings at work, your kid’s sporting events or the like, your memory issues could be related to sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea sufferers also report moodiness or being overly sensitive to borderline depressed. It is no wonder these feelings occur since the body is not resting as well as it should. If you find that your emotions seem to be off the charts and unusual for you, consider a sleep evaluation by the dentist.
For adults, men specifically, sleep apnea also can impact libido, affecting intimacy in a relationship. Research indicates that men, who do not get a restful night’s sleep, often result in lower levels of testosterone, a hormone directly related to libido.
If you believe that you suffer from sleep apnea, get a sleep evaluation right away, it could save your life! Treatment for your sleep apnea could be easier than you realize with a custom made oral appliance. To learn more, please call the office of Hartrick Dentistry at (248) 549-0950 and schedule an evaluation today.
Hartrick Dentistry is proud to serve the oral health needs of patients in the areas of Royal Oak and Birmingham, Michigan.