So as you have heard all week, sleep is vital for optimal health. I have intimate experience with how devastating a lack of good sleep can be. When my daughter, Rebecca, was ill, I noticed that she was not sleeping well. She would snort throughout the night, waking me up, and that’s when I noticed she was waking her self up too. It wasn’t until I finally sat her doctors down and stressed what was happening to her, that they did a sleep study and saw that she was waking up during the night, literally dozens of times. One of the major things this lack of sleep resulted in was lowering her seizure threshold. That simply means, it did not take much excited activity in her brain to cause her to have a seizure. And all this was because of this improper sleep due to the apnea.
There are three types of sleep apnea. Beckie had what is called Central sleep apnea due to all the insults to her brain, because of where the cancer had been and all the surgeries and radiation and so on. But the most common type is called Obstructive sleep apnea. This is seen often with overweight individuals. It is when we either position our neck wrong and/or when the muscles in our throat relax during sleep, with both issues causing obstruction to our airway. Then the third is a combination of Central and Obstructive called Complex sleep apnea syndrome. Whichever type, the point is we actually stop breathing during the night. But look at how amazing God has created us, my Friends, in the event of any of these problems, we will snort or snore or do whatever the body needs to do, to wake us up and start us breathing again. Once we got this condition diagnosed, put her on the proper BiPAP machine every night and we changed some nutrition and hydration issues, Rebecca never had seizures ever again.
My Friends, a lack of proper sleep is serious. Below are some general symptoms of sleep apnea, but remember I am not a doctor. These videos are not meant to give you a diagnosis, but to encourage you to do more research. If you are experiencing any of these, please seek medical advice.
Sleep, it is vitally important and the good news is that, if we correct any poor sleep habits and begin to get a good night’s rest, many, if not all of these effects, can be reversed! So please, eat well, drink plenty of fluids, be active, and go get some good sleep.
<>< Peace, Diane
Symptoms of sleep apnea (from Mayo Clinic):
Loud snoring
Episodes in which you stop breathing during sleep, which would be reported by another person
Gasping for air during sleep
Awakening with a dry mouth
Morning headache
Difficulty staying asleep (insomnia)
Excessive daytime sleepiness (hypersomnia)
Difficulty paying attention while awake
Irritability
