SUFFICIENT sleep is vital in ensuring your physical and mental health is maintained.
However, sleep statistics show up to four in 10 Australian adults are not getting enough quality sleep.
Sleep apnoea is a common cause of sleep related health problems.
The most common form of sleep apnoea is obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), and this occurs when airways repeatedly become completely or partially blocked during sleep, causing the person to stop breathing.
Although obstructive sleep apnoea is very common, it often goes untreated as those suffering from the condition are unaware of what is happening, but consistently wake up tired.
Marraboor Pharmacy sleep technician Ella Taverna said these episodes usually resulted because the soft tissue in the back of the throat collapsed during an individual’s sleep cycle.
Breathing usually stops for anywhere between a few seconds to just over a minute, often causing the person to wake.
“During these episodes, your diaphragm and chest muscles work harder than normal to open your airways,” Ms Taverna said.
“This is when you snore or breathe with loud hasps or jerk your body.”
Sleep apnoea can be mild or severe, but in severe cases it leads to interrupted sleep patterns which can result in numerous health-related issues.
According to the Sleep Health Foundation, Australia’s leading advocate for healthy sleep, OSA interrupts sleep and places unnecessary stress on your body.
“There is strong evidence that people with untreated moderate to severe OSA have other health problems, including increased risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, diabetes, depression and accidents,” the foundation said.
It can also impact concentration, mental health and productivity at home and work.
Despite this, help and treatment is available, and that’s where the team at Marraboor Pharmacy can assist.
Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy is a common treatment for OSA, allowing a safe, continuous sleep throughout the night.
With continual advancements in technology, a range of automatic positive airway pressure (APAP) machines are now on the market.
While CPAP delivers one continuous pressure level of air, APAP automatically adjusts to meet each specific person’s breathing needs, which often change throughout the night.
“Like CPAP machines, APAP machines work by taking in air through a filter, often with heating and humidification, and then using a motor to push the air through a tube that is connected to a face mask,” Ms Taverna said.
She said the first step in treating OSA was recognising the issue.
Once this has been identified, Ms Taverna said help at a local level was readily available, adding some residents may be eligible for a Medicare subsidised sleep study which examined individual sleeping patterns and helped identify a plan for moving forward.
