Sleep, Sleep Apnea, and CPAP

Why is quality sleep important?

Over 1/3 of American adults are sleeping less than seven hours per night. If we further consider the fact that part of these people are the ones with diagnosed sleep disorders (such as sleep apnea), which further influence the quality of the sleep cycles, we can easily conclude that there are a lot of people in the US that are constantly tired, unfocused, or in serious risk of developing more serious chronic illnesses. 

What is sleep and why is quality sleep important?

To better understand our body and the reasons it needs quality sleep, first, we should understand the basics of sleep. For this purpose, we will use Britannica Dictionary’s definition of sleep: Sleep is a normal, reversible, recurrent state of reduced responsiveness to external stimulation accompanied by complex and predictable changes in physiology. These changes include coordinated, spontaneous, internally generated brain activity and fluctuations in hormone levels, and relaxation of musculature. The complete sleep process can be divided into 2 parts: non-REM (NREM) part and the REM part. REM is the abbreviation of Rapid Eye Movement, which is, as the name describes, the process of eyeball movement during the final phase of sleep. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) further separates the NREM part of sleep into three stages: N1, N2, and N3 (N1 stage is the light sleep, a transition between wakefulness and sleep; N2 stage is the deeper sleep as the heart rate and breathing rates continue slowing down and the muscles become more relaxed; N3 stage is the deep sleep stage, and in this stage heartbeat, muscle relaxation, breathing, and other physiological processes are at their lowest). N3 stage is the most important in the sleep cycle (although up until recently, it was considered that the REM part is the most important, but recent research proved differently). If any stage or part of the sleep cycle is missing, the whole quality sleep process fails.

As we already mentioned, lack of sleep, and especially quality sleep, can significantly influence the development of several serious chronic illnesses. As the National Institutes of Health (NIH) online health information resource MediLine Plus suggests, illnesses that can directly be related to lack of quality sleep are: 

• Diabetes (your body does not do as well controlling blood sugar when you do not get enough sleep),
• Heart disease (lack of sleep can lead to high blood pressure and inflammation, two things that can damage your heart),
• Obesity (when you do not get enough rest from sleep, you are more prone to overeat. It is also harder to resist foods high in sugar and fat),
• Infection (your immune system needs you to sleep so it can fight colds and keep you healthy),
• Mental health (depression and anxiety often make it hard to sleep. They also can become worse after a string of sleepless nights).

What is sleep apnea?

So far, science defined over 70 sleeping disorders. They can be short-term or long-term disorders. But most importantly in a majority of cases, they are successfully treated. The 3 most common ones are sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome (RLS), and insomnia.

Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder in which pauses in breathing or periods of shallow breathing during sleep occur more often than usual – National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). Breathing pause in sleep apnea can be from 10 seconds up to a minute. Once the brain "feels" there is not enough oxygen to function properly, it responds by awakening the person. This awakening is short-term and as soon as airways are opened, a person resumes snoring. This cycle can be repeated tens or even hundreds of times during one-night sleep. Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is the most common type of sleep apnea, which occurs when throat muscles relax and physically block the airways, which further causes the blocking of the airflow. Besides OSA we also have Central Sleep Apnea (which occurs when the brain fails to send signals to the muscles that control breathing), and Complex Sleep Apnea (a combination of the previous two types).

For treating obstructive sleep apnea modern medicine uses 2 methods: 

• Surgical (if necessary, and possible, doctors surgically remove the part that is obstructing the airflow), 
• Using CPAP therapy and accessories 

Although the surgical approach could be a long-term, once-dealt, solution, it is actually a less common one. CPAP therapy on the other hand, with all of its possible discomforts (which are significantly reduced year after year, as the CPAP industry is developing), is a preferred and by far more common solution.

Why is CPAP therapy growing in popularity?

CPAP therapy is the most common way of treating obstructive sleep apnea. But what is it? 

CPAP is the abbreviation for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. So by that, we can say that CPAP therapy is a therapy in which continuous air is pushed into a patient's airways, thus keeping them open all the time. It is done using a CPAP machine (device). CPAP machine is pushing the air, through the hose, to the face mask, and into the patients’ airways, during their sleep.

Besides CPAP devices, we also have APAP, and BiPAP which in some ways come as more advanced versions of CPAP and as such have some additional benefits in the machine operation itself. Instead of keeping the constant positive air pressure, BiPAP has 2 air pressure phases: low and high air pressure; one pressure level for inhalation (IPAP), and the other, a lower pressure, for exhalation (EPAP); this helps make the whole breathing process a bit easier for some people who find the constant same level air pressure uncomfortable. It is also used more often in more severe types of sleep apnea. APAP machines have self-adjusting high and low air pressure settings which are automatically adjusted according to the patient's breathing.

We wrote a lot about the discomforts of using CPAP therapy and how to overcome them… The bulkiness of CPAP equipment and in some cases the complexity of its use might repel some patients; face masks can be a major turn-off as they can cause various discomforts, hose management, mask straps, handling, and maintaining the equipment… But all this is becoming less and less of a problem every year. The CPAP industry is investing a lot in perfecting and making CPAP devices smarter, as well as reducing the mentioned discomforts. So, if you find regular daily maintenance (necessary cleaning/sanitizing of the equipment) of the CPAP equipment too much effort and time investment, you can use CPAP Sterilization Machine (most commonly you can choose between CPAP Ozone Cleaners and CPAP UV cleaners); as one of the best CPAP sanitizing solutions on the market, we can always recommend PrimeClean cpap ozone sanitizer. If you feel the discomfort of limited sleeping positions due to a face mask and hose management, you can try using a CPAP pillow; Best pillow for sleep apnea, that we can recommend is PrimeClean CPAP Pillow. Or maybe it's the face mask itself that is giving you issues…this one also has many solutions, starting from mask strap covers, to soothing gels, and different mask types. 

So, it is easy to see why is CPAP therapy growing in popularity each year. The CPAP industry is investing huge efforts to simplify the entire process and make it as comfortable as possible. CPAP devices are getting smarter, more compact, and easier to use and carry. CPAP equipment is getting more advanced and with its accessories, it is becoming more user-friendly and comfort-oriented. We do not doubt that this positive trend will continue, and that is great for all sleep apnea patients.

Keep in mind that CPAP therapy is a prescription therapy and as such, it can (and by all means should) be used only when and how it’s prescribed by a physician!