Sleep health is not just about sleep latency and insommnia.Sleep health is very important in general health. We repair our bodies, sort our memories, retreat from everyday troubles.Difficulty getting to sleep (sleep latency increased) and staying asleep get people complaining. Obstructive sleep apnea (apnoea in Australia) gets their partner complaining. It can be rather disturbing waiting for your loved one to start breathing again, wondering if it will happen. Maybe they should complain more, as OSA is mostly undiagnosed. One problem is that hypopnea episodes aren't as dramatic and account for a lot of the problem.
Are you a slow starter in the morning? People with OSA can be very slow starters, plus tend to drop off to sleep during the day very readily.High blood pressure is quite often caused or aggravated by OSA. The wide range of conditions helped by the Patakara lip trainer shows how much trouble is caused by mouth breathing1. They noted improvement in mouth breathing at night, various types of mouth and throat discomfort, snoring and OSA, peridontitis and loose teeth, asthma, facial wrinkles and double chin. If you look in a mirror with your mouth open as widely as possible but tongue behind your lower teeth, what can you see? The Friedman tongue position grade describes this. If all you can see is the roof of your mouth, that is in keeping with OSA. If you can see the finger-like uvula dangling down in the midline, any OSA is likely to be less severe.
This is hardly conducive to a good nights sleep, in an unfamiliar bed hitched up to all sorts of recording apparatus. It is the best way of testing however, and can reveal all sorts of disturbances in the different stages of sleep through the night.It is expensive, so most people opt for wearing a more limited range of recorders for one night at home. The EEG is not included. This is just testing for OSA, the most important disorder.
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1. Noro Akio et al Basic and Clinical Subjects of Myofunctional Therapy Using a New Oral Rehabilitation apparatus. Part 2 Evaluation of Chronological Changes of "Labial-Closure-Strength" from Youth to Adults. Japanese Journal of Conservative Dentistry 45 (5) 2002: 817-828 |
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