Waking up exhausted? You might be suffering from sleep apnoea
Only 36% of people in the UK say their sleep is 'good', according to Nuffield Health, and the range of reasons for this inconsistent shut-eye can vary from insomnia to anxiety. But have you considered sleep apnoea as the cause of your bad night's snooze?
Sleep apnoea is thought to impact 10 million people in the UK, yet only 1 million are diagnosed, according to the Sleep Apnoea Trust. And if you constantly wake up feeling tired, groggy and like you've not slept at all, sleep apnoea could be to blame.
What is sleep apnoea?
'Sleep apnoea is where your airway narrows or closes repeatedly during your sleep,' says Stephanie Romiszewski, sleep physiologist and founder of Sleepy Head Clinic. 'This stops you from being able to breathe, usually for seconds at a time. We can actually all do this up to five times an hour in our sleep, but in those with sleep apnoea it is happening more often, and comes with side effects.'
What are the symptoms of sleep apnoea?
The main symptom of sleep apnoea is excessive tiredness or need to sleep during the day. 'This is because your body is fighting to keep your airway open during sleep - which it is very good at (you won't stop breathing and die) - but is a lot for you to do during sleep. Therefore your body needs more time to recover during the day,' says Romiszewski.
Other symptoms can include snoring, gasping for air, waking up choking, breaks in breathing (witnessed by a partner), headaches in the morning, mouth and throat dryness, frequently needing to pass urine during the night and a general depletion of energy.
'Those most at risk people over the age of 50, and it commonly impacts men more than women. Having a BMI over 30 or a collar size over 18 is also a risk. However, that doesn't mean we don't see it in females and those who are not overweight, it's just not as common,' adds Romiszewski.
Long-term, sleep apnoea can increase the risk of high blood pressure, stroke and type 2 diabetes as a result of lost sleep itself and the health behaviours we engage in when tired, like over-eating and not exercising.
'It's important to note this is a real sleep disorder and the sleepiness you feel as a result of it does not equate laziness - we need to normalise that some people have sleep disorders and get rid of toxic cultural attitudes towards sleepiness, so that more people seek help and know that there is help out there. The first step, is to talk to your GP,' says Romiszewski.
What are the treatments for sleep apnoea?
To diagnose you with sleep apnoea, your GP will send you to a sleep clinic for tests. You will likely be given a device to wear during sleep to check your breathing and heart rate while you sleep. If the sleep clinic find you have sleep apnoea, there are treatments that can help.
'The gold standard treatment is Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (or CPAP for short) - a machine which pushes positive pressure down your airway. It is not breathing for you, as you will eventually do that yourself, but it does help to avoid the stopping of breathing in the first place, and therefore avoid all the side effects,' says Romiszewski.
Although CPAP can be life changing, it is just a control and when you stop using the machine the condition and its side effects will return.
'In some people, sleep apnoea is caused because of extra weight gain (it can be fat or muscle) around the neck area, so losing weight can really help. Using CPAP in the short term to reduce how sleep apnoea makes you feel can significantly improve your chances of losing weight and therefore reduce the problem in the long term without having to use the machine forever,' explains Romiszewski.
Sleep Apnoea Trust also state that 'not drinking alcohol after 6.00pm (alcohol relaxes the upper airway muscles even more), keeping the nose as clear as possible and sleeping on one’s side or semi propped up can all help.'
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