Let's Talk About Sleep Apnea

As Americans get less fit and more obese, there are a number of things that can and do go wrong with our bodies. Some of them are obvious, some of them less so. Many are things that only a specialist doctor -- like a cardiologist -- can handle, others can be tackled at home. Still others can be addressed in some surprising ways, like obstructive sleep apnea -- a soft tissue disorder of the palate and throat that can have disastrous effects on your physical and mental health. Dr. Eric Johnson's office wants you to know that obstructive sleep apnea may be affecting your life -- about one in a thousand of us have it -- and if it is, he's here to help you.

Obstructive sleep apnea happens when, as you sleep, the muscles that support the soft tissues in your nose, tongue, palate, and throat relax. In most people, that's not a problem, but for some of us, the relaxation allows our throat to close up completely, preventing us from breathing. In others, only the nasal passages close up, forcing us to breathe through our mouth all night long.

In order to keep us alive, our nervous systems panic when we stop breathing, and they send just enough of a jolt to our brain to knock us out of sound sleep. We wake up enough to force our throats open and start breathing again -- and usually, we immediately drift back off to sleep, often without ever realizing that our sleep was interrupted.

Unfortunately, even those non-waking interruptions utterly ruin the quality of our sleep...and they can happen hundreds of times every night. For people with obstructive sleep apnea, it's not uncommon to wake up after ten or even twelve hours of sleep and want nothing more than to go back to bed.

If you consistently wake up feeling tired and unrested, and it's been happening for so long that your behavior is changing for the worse, you need to stop by our office and talk to Dr. Johnson about how he can help you combat obstructive sleep apnea. Call and make an appointment today -- you owe it to yourself to get a good night's sleep.