The results are in: sleep is the most important thing you can do for you health. Getting a good night’s rest can help you to focus better during the day, feel happier, and be more motivated. And not getting enough sleep increases your risk of heart disease, weight gain, and diabetes. So it seems pretty simple, right? You need to get enough sleep. So what, exactly, is keeping you up at night?
Are You Always Tired?
Sometimes getting enough sleep isn’t always about how many hours your head spends on a pillow, especially if you constantly wake up feeling tired. More important than quantity — although quantity is important — is quality.
Does your partner complain about your snoring? Do you wake up in the morning with a headache? Sleep apnea/snoring-and-sleep-apnea-treatment’}}}} is a sleep disorder characterized by frequent pauses in the breathing cycle during sleep. If these pauses are above a certain threshold, they can begin to affect the body’s blood-oxygen level. When this happens, your brain sends a signal to your body to momentarily wake up to normalize oxygen levels. Chances are you won’t remember waking up, but your body does. This severely affects your sleep patterns and may be the reason you’re always feeling so tired.
Sleep apnea affects around 18 million Americans, and an estimated 80% of those people haven’t even been diagnosed.That means that sleep apnea is slowly killing millions of people — and they don’t even know it. Increased risk of stroke, diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, and heart disease means that sleep apnea effectively triples your risk of dying young.
Of course, treatment for sleep apnea can mitigate those risks, but even for those who are properly diagnosed and seek treatment, sleep apnea treatment isn’t always a pleasant experience.
Sleep Apnea Treatment Options
The most common first treatment doctors prescribe for sleep apnea is something called a CPAP device. CPAP stands for “continuous positive airway pressure.” The device is connected to a mask with a tube, and the sleep apnea sufferer wears the mask while they sleep. Although CPAP has been proven effective treatment for sleep apnea, it can be difficult to sleep in, especially if you easily feel claustrophobic. It can also be inconvenient for your partner.
If you’ve already been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea and are searching for a treatment alternative, a sleep dentist can help.
We can provide an oral appliance, like a mouthguard, that holds your jaw in the proper position while you sleep. This will prevent your airway from being obstructed, giving you all the benefits of CPAP without the discomfort.
If you would like to learn whether you qualify for this convenient and simple snoring and sleep apnea treatment, please call (910) 392-6060 or email Kuzma Advanced Dentistry.
