Can Sleep Apnea Cause Death?

Find the truth here.

Many people wonder about the question – CanSleep Apnea CauseDeath? Is it true or just an urban myth? We will bring you the facts soyou can be armed with the knowledge to combat sleep apnea.

SleepApnea is a dangerous medical condition. And like most delicate healthconditions Patients their friends and family members should give fullattention to this condition.Neglector a careless attitude towards this illness could have serious effectsand could even cause death. Speaking of hazards, Sleep Apnea can affect apersondirectlyor indirectly.

There are different forms of Sleep Apnea,Obstructive Sleep Apneaand Mild or Occasional Sleep Apnea. Mild or occasional sleep can occur due to respiratoryinfectionsbut [OSA] Obstructive Sleep Apneais dangerous. As it’s name shows, during sleep the muscles of the upperneck can collapse and obstruct the flow of oxygen. This is calledhypoxemia.

Some individuals especiallythe elderlyand obese people have low muscle tone around their airway, and thiscauses the airway to become narrow and blocks the flow of oxygen.Research has shown that older people are more likely to have OSA thanyounger people and men are more likely victims of OSA than children andwomen.OSA comes with a list of symptoms which include but are notlimited to loud snoring and unsettled sleep.

Can Sleep Apnea cause death?

TheHuman brain is the control center of the body. In the classic CentralSleep Apnea patient, there could be a “short-circuiting” of the brainand the respiratory center of the brain is not triggered to tell thebody to start breathing again. Because of this the sleep apnea patientmight not even breathe for seconds at a time.

Carbon dioxidebuilds up and puts pressure on the heart and it could begin to swellovertime and this might lead to a heart attack or even death. Also ifthe individual continues to miss breathing cycles, the percentage ofoxygen flow will drop lower than the normal level (hypoxia) and carbondioxide will build up (hypercapnia), overtime this trend will haveadverse effects on the body. The Human Brain cells need oxygen tosurvive, and if the oxygen levels continue to go lower brain damage ordeath could set in eventually. In the average human this is not supposedto happen because the slightest drop in oxygen stimulates the brain tomake the body resume the normal breathing cycle.

But as earlierstated this is not the case with OSA patients. Usually after suchepisodes of cessation of breath, breathing may become faster so the bodycan blow away all the carbon dioxide build up and receive more oxygen.

Theeffects of Sleep Apnea include weakness, depression and even suicidalthoughts. OSA can cause it’s victim to become “slow” during the day andthis might cause the individual to react to events slowly. This couldcause fatal accidents, fire outbreaks and CO poisoning.So to answer thequestion, can sleep apnea cause death?

Conclusion.

Sleep Apnea can cause death. Sure the condition can be managed and now there is a 70% rate of success forSleep Apnea treatments. According to a medical news story as reported byABC News, Millions of American suffer from Sleep Apnea leading to feelings of sleepiness during the day.

Researchersclaim that 1400 traffic deaths each year is because of driverssuffering from Sleep Apnea. It is believed 3% of Americans suffer fromit and there are 40 million undiagnosed Americans suffering from sleepapneaand about1 in 50 or 2.00% or 5.4 million people in Americahave the disease and have not been diagnosed.