One of the most common health disorders among people around the world is “sleep apnea”. In its simplest sense ‘sleep apnea’ can be understood as one or more pauses in normal breathing. In many cases the shallow breathing during sleep is also termed as ‘sleep apnea’.

A pause in normal breathing during sleep may have an undefined duration. Meaning thereby, the pause could be for a few seconds only or it can even stretch up to few minutes.

Similarly, the rate of occurrence of such pauses during sleep may also vary up to great ranges. It could be five times per hour or even up to 30 times an hour. Normal breathing generally starts immediately after such a pause but this re-start could generate a snoring or choking sound as well.

Once a person is a victim of ‘sleep apnea’ this disorder converts in to a chronic disorder slowly over the years. In majority of the cases people never realize that the ‘sleep apnea disorder’ has crept in their lives. Read the rest of this entry

If you are suffering from the deadly sleep disorder called the obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) then you’re not breathing properly while you sleep because your airflow is blocked repeatedly throughout the night.

Almost one in four men and one in ten women suffer from sleep apnea. There are three different types of sleep apnea but obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common. And it goes hand-in-hand with type 2 diabetes.

Among all of the sleep disorders, OSA has the strongest association with type 2 diabetes. That’s even taking into account other risk factors, such as weight, sex and age.

The main risk factor for OSA is obesity. Excess weight deposits extra fat around the thorax, reducing chest compliance and functional capacity, while increasing oxygen demand. Read the rest of this entry

Sleep disorders often remain undiagnosed. Untreated sleep disorders among police officers may adversely affect their health and safety and pose a risk to the public.

Researchers examined and evaluated associations between sleep disorder risk and self-reported health, safety, and performance outcomes in police officers.

Cross-sectional and prospective cohort study of North American police officers participating in either an online or an on-site screening (n=4957) and monthly follow-up surveys (n=3545 officers representing 15 735 person-months) between July 2005 and December 2007. A total of 3693 officers in the United States and Canada participated in the online screening survey, and 1264 officers from a municipal police department and a state police department participated in the on-site survey.             Read the rest of this entry

Disturbing forecasts have prompted the Aviisha Medical Institute, LLC to  release a free guide to sleep apnea. A new study published in the Lancet  predicts that by 2030, 164 million Americans will suffer from obesity.

Given  obesity’s high correlation with sleep apnea, experts are beginning to brace for  an obesity-sleep apnea epidemic of epic proportions.

Current estimates predict that 1 in every 5 Americans suffers from mild sleep  apnea and 1 in every 15 from moderate sleep apnea or worse. These numbers are  expected to climb in coming years, and yet most sleep apnea sufferers have no  idea they have the condition.

“Studies estimate that between 80 and 90% of sufferers are undiagnosed and  need treatment,” said Dr. Avi Ishaaya, a sleep boarded physician and Medical  Director of the Aviisha Medical Institute, LLC.

“This is a serious problem when  you consider how untreated sleep apnea can devastate the cardiovascular system  and damage a person’s quality of life.” Sleep apnea has been linked to stroke,  heart failure, diabetes, hypertension, depression, erectile dysfunction, memory  loss, and more. Read the rest of this entry

Sleep apnea is a deadly sleep disorder.The overall effects of sleep apnea are more cumulative in nature and could kill a person being in association with other several disorders and diseases.

In the case of sleep apnea, which is cessation of breathing while sleeping, it can lead to high blood pressure and heart failure, stroke, diabetes, sexual dysfunction; and because it promotes a dangerous lack of good sleep, it also is being blamed for many traffic fatalities in this country brought about by drowsy drivers.

Former NFL players  like Aaron Taylor, a big former Chargers offensive lineman, and Rolf Benirschke, a thin former Chargers kicker, both have suffered from sleep apnea. Both of these NFL stars are contributing towards awareness of sleep apnea among masses.They are doing it through education, because the way to beat this thing is to go to bed wearing masks attached to positive airway pressure devices. Read the rest of this entry

People with diabetes and obstructive sleep apnea are at greater risk of hypoglycemia, a newly concluded research revealed.

People suffering from a sleep disorder who also had poor autonomic function had significantly more hypoglycemia than those with more normal function (P<0.05), Jennifer Cheng, MD, of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in Chicago, and colleagues reported here at the World Congress on Insulin Resistance, Diabetes, and Cardiovascular Disease meeting.

“We expected that the symptomatic obstructive sleep apnea patients would have more hyperglycemia, but they actually had more hypoglycemia,” Cheng told MedPage Today. “Clinicians should take into account autonomic function when recommending tight glucose regulation because of the adverse effects that hypoglycemia can cause.” Read the rest of this entry

Losing weight reduces the risk factors for many diseases, especially cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes and sleep apnea. Shedding just 10 pounds, for example, can lower blood pressure. Weight loss also lowers blood sugar and improves cholesterol levels.

Now, it looks like a new benefit can be added to the list. Losing weight can reduce urinary incontinence in women who are overweight or obese. In a randomized trial funded by the National Institutes of Health, moderate weight loss in a group of heavy women who undertook a six-month diet and exercise program cut the frequency of urinary incontinence episodes by nearly a half.

Urinary incontinence affects more than 13 million women in the United States. It not only causes inconvenience and emotional stress, it also raises the risk of falls, fractures, and nursing home admissions. Obesity has long been associated with urinary leakage in women, but until now, there’s been little research to confirm that losing weight would help reverse the problem — or to suggest how much weight loss would be needed. Read the rest of this entry

SleepApneaDisorder/ [  Press Release  ]/ Versailles, Ohio /October 17, 2011/ Sleep Apnea: A Growing Health Concern According to the National Institute  of Neurological Disorders and Strokes, an estimated 18 million Americans have  sleep apnea. However, few of them have had the problem diagnosed.

Sleep apnea is the repeated interruption of normal breathing during sleep.  Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common type of breathing-related sleep disorder. In patients with OSA, the airway collapses, temporarily restricting  airflow to the lungs. This partial airway obstruction causes the upper airway  tissue to vibrate and produce the sound of the classic snore.

As OSA develops, it has a cumulative effect, meaning that the longer the  disease goes untreated, the greater the negative side effects and associated  health risks. According to numerous  research studies, if sleep apnea remains untreated, other health conditions  may emerge or current health problems may worsen, including: Read the rest of this entry

Are you unable to fall asleep? Do you wake up often throughout the night? Do you feel well-rested when you awake in the morning? Do you want to improve your quality and quantity of your sleep? Symptoms of forgetfulness, headaches, lack of focus, itching, moodiness, cravings, headaches, and neck and backaches often disappear with a good night’s sleep.

Restful sleep is a must for health, vitality, longevity and fat loss. Researchers found that sleeping four hours a night interferes with your ability to secrete and regulate hormones, which in turn promote aging, increase appetite, add inches to your waistline and increases your risk of developing diabetes. Lack of sleep promotes an environment prime for inflammation and catabolism (muscle loss).

One loses ”one IQ point” for every hour of lost sleep one didn’t get the night before. Cognitive and mood problems develop, along with an increased risk of high blood pressure and heart disease are just a few consequences of too little sleep. Read the rest of this entry

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common yet underdiagnosed condition. The aim of our study is to test whether prediabetes and type 2 diabetes are associated with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in extremely obese (BMI [greater than or equal to] 40 kg/m2) subjects.

One hundred and thirty seven consecutive extremely obese patients (99 females) from a controlled clinical trial [MOBIL-study (Morbid Obesity treatment, Bariatric surgery versus Intensive Lifestyle intervention Study) (ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT00273104)] underwent somnography with Embletta(R) and a 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Read the rest of this entry

Are you sleeping too much or too less during nights? Research concluded in recent past has revealed that inflammation could play a key role in your health condition in such a situation.

Long and short duration sleep has been reported to have an increased risk for several disorders and health problems including coronary heart diseases, diabetes, obesity, and death in many of the previously concluded researches and studies. Inflammation regulating cytokines elevations have been found to have direct linkage with enhanced risk of health problems like heart disease and diabetes.

In this study where 614 participants reported their sleep habits after spending a night in sleep lab the mean self-reported sleep duration was calculated to be only 7.6 hours. The sleep lab reported sleep duration was only 6.2 hours on the contrary. Read the rest of this entry

The diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders have come a long way in recent years. In the past, people who snored might be advised to sew a tennis ball onto the back of their pajama top. The “snore ball” would discourage them from sleeping on their back and might quiet their droning. Or a doctor might use the “dog index” to measure poor sleep: If your dog generally sleeps with you but by morning has left the bed more than half the time, it may be because you’re such a loud, restless sleeper that the dog has gone elsewhere for some peace and quiet.

How things have changed. Now, doctors with special training diagnose and treat more than 80 sleep disorders – from obstructive sleep apnea to narcolepsy – at special centers with labs where a patient’s every sleeping moment may be recorded and measured. Read the rest of this entry

Conditions such as diabetes,  sleep apnea and depression that are well-controlled are “not a terrible risk,”  and people can get life insurance at reasonable rates.

It would be a good idea to shop around if you have a health  condition that makes getting life insurance a challenge.  Insurers have all  developed their own underwriting guidelines, and some are able to offer better  rates for applicants with certain medical conditions.

Guaranteed life insurance is another option if  you’re looking for coverage with no health questions asked and no physicals  required. But the amount of coverage offered is usually quite limited, the  premium will be very high, and if you die within the first year or two, your  loved ones will likely receive only the premiums you’ve paid and any interest  earned. Read the rest of this entry

Two-thirds of adults in America — and nearly one-third of children and teenagers — are obese or overweight, and one in 4 New Yorkers is obese, according to an annual obesity report released Thursday by two public health groups.

The latest survey ranks New York 41st on a state-by-state obesity list, improving from a tie for 36th last year. The number of obese adults in New York has edged down to 24.7 percent of the population from 25.1 percent.

Thirty-eight states now have obesity rates above 25 percent. In 1995, no state had an obesity rate above 20 percent.

In New York, the combined obesity and overweight rate is 60.6 percent, up from 54.1 percent in 2001, the survey found. The diabetes rate has risen to 8.7 percent from 4.7 percent in 1995 and the hypertension rate to 27.1 percent from 22 percent. Read the rest of this entry

Childhood obesity in North Carolina is at 33.5% according to the  National Conference of State Legislatures. Raleigh  weight loss problems mount as the state will pay $2.138 billion in annual  medical costs of obesity.

One in three children are overweight or obese. Childhood obesity has  increased over 300% in the past 30 years according to the CDC (Center for  Disease Control). Obesity among children aged 6 to 11 years increased from 6.5%  in 1980 to 19.6% in 2008. Obesity among adolescents aged 12 to 19 years  increased from 5.0% to 18.1% during the same time period.

The risk factors for obesity in children and adolescents are cardiovascular  disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure. To make matters worse, they are  at greater risk for bone and joint problems, sleep apnea and poor self-esteem.  Overweight and obese children are more likely to be overweight or obese in their  adult years. This increases their chances of developing heart disease, type 2  diabetes, stroke, cancer and osteoarthritis.

Knowing these facts; would one ever say to your overweight or obese child,  Sweetie, let’s go get some cheeseburgers, fries and a milk shake so later in  life it can result in a heart attack.