A possible new approach to stopping obstructive sleep apnea

MIT: Obstructive sleep apnea, which causes people to briefly stop breathing while asleep, affects an estimated 5 percent of the population, not including the many more who don’t even realize they suffer from the disorder. Patients are sometimes treated with a machine that blows air into the patient’s airway through a face mask, but no drug treatments exist. In an advance that may change that, MIT researchers have discovered that a dietary supplement called yohimbine reverses the root cause of obstructive sleep apnea in an animal model.

Sleep apnea linked to depression in men

Adelaide: New research by the University of Adelaide has found a profound link between sleep disorders and depression in men. The research by the University’s Dr Carol Lang involved more than 1800 men over a five-year period and found that those with an undiagnosed sleep disorder and one of the primary symptoms of sleep apnea, excessive daytime sleepiness, were four times more likely to have depression than those without a sleep disorder. And men with a diagnosed sleep condition were twice as likely to have depression.

What you need to know about sleep apnea

Sydney: Sleep apnea (or apnoea) is a condition where people repeatedly stop breathing while asleep. People with sleep apnoea often complain of daytime sleepiness, difficulties concentrating, and they tend to have high blood pressure. The people around them usually complain about their nightly snoring, gasping, and choking noises. About 5% of people have treatable moderate or severe sleep apnoea, which means they stop breathing 15 times or more times per hour while asleep. A larger number of people - as many as 20% of middle-aged folk - have mild sleep apnoea, which means they stop breathing around five to 15 times an hour.

Drug-development grants focus on sleep apnea, asthma research

University of Chicago. US: Two research teams based at the University of Chicago have received prestigious grants from the National Institutes of Health to develop novel medications to treat sleep apnea and asthma.

Sleep Apnea Linked to Poor Aerobic Fitness

UCSD. US: People with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea may have an intrinsic inability to burn high amounts of oxygen during strenuous aerobic exercise, according to a new study led by researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.

Sleep apnea syndrome

Author : Dr Peremarty MD. 

Unlike the insomniac subject (who knows how long a night can be), the pathological snorer considers him/herself like a « good sleeper » and generally reports no bad memories from his/her nights.

Identified since 1965 in obese and sleepy subjects , the Obstructive Sleep Apnea syndrome (OSA) has been defined in 1972 and its «revolutionary » treatment, which consists in keeping a positive air pressure in the upper airways, was found in 1981.
25 years later, more than 100.000 people enjoy, thanks to that, a normal life expectancy but it is estimated that there remain four times more sick people who need to be detected.

Measure your daytime sleepiness

Source:  A New Method For Measuring Daytime Sleepiness: The Epworth Sleepiness Scale  Murray W. Johns. Sleep 1991.

How likely are you to doze off or fall asleep in the following situations, in contrast to feeling just tired? This refers to your usual way of life in recent times. Even if you have not done some of these things recently try to work out how they would have affected you. Use the following scale to choose the most appropriate number for each situation.
The Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) is a simple, self-administered questionnaire which is shown to provide a measurement of the subject's general level of daytime sleepiness.

Central Sleep Apnea

Author: Dr Robert C. Basner Columbia University 2008-06-10

Central Sleep Apnea: Non-obstructive sleep apnea

The following is a discussion of non-obstructive, or "central"  sleep apnea. As with its companion piece, "obstructive sleep apnea," its content is not intended to be a medical primer nor meant to exhaustively cover all of the risks and complications possible with the disorder and its diagnosis, treatment, and non-treatment. The author stresses that this discussion does not substitute for the need to personally discuss all aspects of the health effects, diagnosis, and treatment of sleep apnea with a health care professional and, generally, with an expert in sleep disorders medicine. It should also be noted that the focus of this piece is on adult central sleep apnea; although some aspects of central sleep apnea in children are discussed here, the risks and benefits involved in the decision making process for testing for and treating such a disorder in children are substantially different than those for adults, as pediatric sleep apnea is often very different in its manifestations and treatment requirements (see recommended readings at the end of this piece).

Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Author: Dr Robert C. Basner Columbia University 2008-10-23

The following is a discussion of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA); its content is not intended to be a medical primer nor meant to exhaustively cover all of the risks and complications possible with the disorder and its diagnosis, treatment, and non-treatment. The author stresses that this discussion does not substitute for the need to personally discuss all aspects of the health effects, diagnosis, and treatment of sleep apnea with a health care professional and, generally, with an expert in sleep disorders medicine. This review focuses on OSA in adults. Although some aspects of OSA in children are discussed here, the risks and benefits involved in the decision making process for testing for and treating OSA in children are substantially different than those for adults.