Health
People who exercise on a regular basis sleep better.
Snoring
VICKI GILHULA
Fall 2011 |
“People stay up too late, get up too early, and don’t get the seven or eight hours of sleep they need,” says Oliphant.
He explains humans are “hot-wired” to go to sleep when the sun goes down and wake up when the sun comes up. This is how our ancestors lived for thousands of years.
On the whole, we get about an hour less sleep than people living at the turn of the 20th century did, says Oliphant.
He advises people who can’t sleep, to lose weight, stop smoking, reduce alcohol intake and to get some exercise.
“People who exercise on a regular basis sleep better,” he says.
There are many myths about sleeping and one is that as people grow older, they need less sleep. Some people may think this because they are not sleeping as well as they used to. Instead, older people often doze off in the middle of the day, says the doctor.
The Pulmonary and Sleep Disorders Clinic tests patients for sleep apnea, a serious condition that causes breathing to stop repeatedly while sleeping. These breathing pauses or “apneas” usually last 10 to 30 seconds and can happen many times throughout the night.
According to the Canadian Lung Association, obstructive sleep apnea happens when the upper airway gets blocked during sleep. Most often, the blockage happens when the soft tissue in the back of the throat collapses and closes during sleep. Relaxed throat muscles, a narrow airway, a large tongue or extra fatty tissue in the throat can also block the airway. Central apnea and mixed apnea are more rare. In central sleep apnea the part of the brain that controls breathing doesn’t work properly.
Untreated sleep apnea can lead to serious health problems such as memory loss, depression, hypertension (high blood pressure) and heart problems.
The sleep disorder clinic, currently located in the hospital’s south tower, has six beds. Patients spend the night wired to a variety of machines to determine if they have the disorder. Sleep patterns are monitored by a technican in another room.
Sleep apnea can be treated. If lifestyle changes don’t improve the condition, a device called CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) can be used to deliver a steady stream of air through a special mask to keep the airway open during sleep.
Some people are able to sleep better with a dental device (airway dilator) placed in the mouth at night to hold the lower jaw and tongue forward.
Sleep apnea symptoms are daytime sleepiness, loud snoring followed by silent pauses, gasping or choking during sleep, morning headache, irritability or mood changes, poor concentration or memory loss, and falling asleep while driving.
Four to five percent of the male population and about two percent of women have sleep apnea, says Oliphant.
They may have symptoms for as long as 10 years before seeing a doctor to get a diagnosis.
