“The key here is that there is a lot of undiagnosed sleep apnea, and that, at least in men, it is associated with the development of coronary heart disease and heart failure. Only about 10 percent of sleep apnea cases are diagnosed, ” said Dr. Daniel Gottlieb, associate professor of medicine, Boston University School of Medicine.

According to background information in the study, sleep apnea sufferers awaken suddenly during the night struggling to breathe, often experiencing a shot of blood pressure- raising adrenaline. Most often, they go right back to sleep, unaware of what happened. But the awakenings are repeated, sometimes up to 30 times an hour, depriving the sufferer of vital oxygen and sound sleep.

The study found that men between 40 and 70 years of age who had severe sleep apnea were 68 percent more likely to develop heart disease, and 58 percent more likely to develop heart failure, than those without the condition. Increasing severity of sleep apnea was also associated with obesity, high blood pressure, hypertension and diabetes, all of which are known contributors to heart disease.

According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health, approximately 14 million Americans suffer from coronary heart disease, the most common cause of death in the United States

via

Do you know that lack of sleep can be a BIG disaster when it comes to sex, relationships, and your social life? Here are some key findings about sex life and sleep problems such as snoring based on WebMD:

Sleep disorders and chronic sleep loss put a serious ding into a sex life. No surprise there. When some partners resort to separate bedrooms due to snoring, sleep apnea, or restless sleep, that pretty much rules out any opportunity for spontaneous action.

Sleep loss can make you quarrelsome: you’ll be “feisty” in an irritable kind of way—not a sexy kind of way.

OSA may be associated with lower testosterone levels. A 2002 study of men at the Technion Sleep Laboratory in Israel found that nearly half of those who suffered from severe sleep apnea also secreted abnormally low levels of testosterone during the night.

The effects of sleep deprivation—low energy, fatigue, and sleepiness—won’t inspire sex. No surprise there either.

Men with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), an inability to breathe properly during sleep, commonly report low libidos and sexual activity.

Sleep loss makes you less able to cope with life’s ups and downs. Sex can be a great stress reducer, but if you don’t have energy for it, then that reduces your opportunities to unwind.

People with insomnia are also less likely to engage in social activities. This doesn’t bode well for the single person looking to make an intimate connection.

A new study published in Journal Chest May 2010 issue reveals that obese children are much more likely to snore than normal weight children. Italian researchers compared 44 children with habitual snoring, 138 children with occasional snoring, and 627 children who did not snore. Of those children, 64 were obese, 121 were overweight, and 624 were normal weight.

The incidence of snoring among obese children was 12.5 percent, more than two times higher than that of overweight children (5.8 percent) and three times higher than that of normal weight children (4.6 percent).

The researchers also found that obese children were nearly twice as likely to have obstructive sleep apnea, a breathing-related sleep disorder, as overweight or normal weight children.

via

Some research suggests they may reduce the severity of sleep apnea by building up muscles around the airway, making them less likely to collapse at night.

In a study published last year in The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, scientists recruited a group of people with obstructive sleep apnea and split them into two groups. One was trained to do breathing exercises daily, while the other did 30 minutes of throat exercises, including swallowing and chewing motions, placing the tip of the tongue against the front of the palate and sliding it back, and pronouncing certain vowels quickly and continuously.

After three months, subjects who did the throat exercises snored less, slept better and reduced the severity of their condition by 39 percent. They also showed reductions in neck circumference, a known risk factor for apnea. The control group showed almost no improvement.

Other randomized studies have found similar effects. One even showed that playing instruments that strengthen the airways, like the didgeridoo, can ease sleep apnea.

THE BOTTOM LINE: For people with sleep apnea, throat exercises may be a cheap and useful therapy.

According to Daily Mail UK

A pill is regarded by some experts as the holy grail of snoring therapy.

The new drug, called Qnexa, was developed as a weightloss medicine. It contains a mixture of a stimulant drug called phentermine and an anti-epilepsy drug called topiramate.

Researchers noticed an added benefit when they tested volunteers to measure the effects on sleep apnoea.
Over the course of the trial, which involved men and women aged 30 to 65, the number of times their sleep was disrupted by snoring-related problems dropped from an average of 46 times an hour to just 14.

At the same time, they lost an average of 10 per cent of their body weight and saw a significant drop in blood pressure. Vivus Inc, the California drug firm that developed Qnexa, says it hopes to get it licensed to treat sleep apnoea.

Professor Jim Horne, a specialist in sleep medicine at Loughborough University, said: ‘Around 50 per cent of obese people suffer sleep apnoea to some degree,’ he says.

‘When they lie down in bed, their muscles relax and then the fat around their neck compresses the airway even further. It’s possible this drug helps by triggering weight loss.

‘Or it might be that it somehow makes the throat muscles a bit more taut.

‘We won’t know whether it is any use to habitual snorers who are not overweight until more research has been carried out.’

They looked at 90 children referred to a clinic to be evaluated for breathing problems in sleep, and 30 controls.

A number of proteins were increased in the urine of the children diagnosed with dangerous snoring.

The research is published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The team say their findings need to be repeated but may lead to a simple test.

Unfortunately, this groundbreaking research is too far from being something useful to doctors and patients. Further studies and human trials are needed to prove its effectiveness.

via

Here’s some bad news for chronic snorers who love to play the game of golf. According to a recent study, eliminating chronic snoring can improve the handicaps of golfers.

A study conducted by researchers at the Morristown Memorial Hospital tested a several golfers who are suffering from severe sleep apnea — a disease that restricts oxygen flow through the mouth and nose and causes the sufferer to stop breathing for more than ten seconds at a time.

During the experiment, 12 golfers were asked to use a device at night to ease breathing, while another 12 were tested without treatment. Throughout the experiment, levels of sleepiness were assessed before, during and after 20 rounds of golf.

The findings showed that golfers who had received treatment saw their average handicap fall significantly from 12.4 to 11.0, while lower handicapped golfers recorded an ever further drop from 9.2 to 6.3.