Sleep Apnea Research Paper

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Sleep Apnea Symptoms and Causes
By Douglas Kidder | Submitted On February 08, 2012

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Sleep apnea is a sleep breathing condition that the afflicted person is rarely aware of. Apnea causes the breathing gaps that occur during sleep. Although there are a lot of telltale signs or sleep apnea symptoms, most of these signs are evident during sleep, making it impossible for the sufferer to detect. More often than not, it is the bed partner that detects the symptoms. Other signs that manifested during daytime are either commonplace to cause alarm or associated with other diseases.

One of the most blatant of these symptoms is the excessive daytime sleepiness or EDS. It is common for apnea patients to feel sleepy while doing daily activities. Severe cases of sleep apnea makes staying awake a challenge. Some patients would fall asleep even without them knowing. This usually happens during classes, during office works, reading, watching TV and even while driving. …show more content…

This also often goes without the knowledge of the patient. Restlessness in sleep, gasping and choking for air are also symptoms that are better detected by the patient's bed partner. These symptoms are due to the obstructions in the patient's airways, making normal breathing hard. The breathing gaps results to deprivation of the oxygen supply to the body which makes the heart pump harder. Constant stress to the heart could develop to heart failures and diseases. Obstructive sleep apnea causes include narrow airways, deviated septum, enlarged tongue, tonsils, adenoids and uvula. These are common in people who have small jaw frames, large necks and are

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