What is Obstructive Sleep Apnea?
Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is a common sleep disorder. People with OSA often snore loudly and stop breathing at times during the night.
This can lead to waking up frequently and feeling tired during the day. But the problem doesn’t stop at poor sleep. OSA can also increase your risk of high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.
How Many People Have OSA?
A new study published in ERJ Open Research suggests that around one in five people could have OSA. This study looked at more than 20,000 adults in France.
The researchers found that about 20.2% of the people in the study were likely to have OSA. But only 3.5% of them were getting treatment for it.
These results show that many people with OSA may not even know they have it. This is a big problem because if people don’t know they have OSA, they can’t get the help they need to manage it.
Who is Most Likely to Have OSA?
The study found that OSA was more common in certain groups of people. It was more common in men, older people, people with heart disease, people who smoke, and people with symptoms of depression.
OSA was also more common in people who didn’t exercise much, had a lower socioeconomic status, or were overweight.
Interestingly, the study found that women were more likely to have OSA without knowing it. This suggests that doctors need to do a better job of recognizing OSA in women.
How Can OSA Be Treated?
The good news is that there are treatments and lifestyle changes that can help people with OSA. For example, losing weight, exercising regularly, and quitting smoking can all help reduce the symptoms of OSA.
There are also medical treatments, like using a special device while sleeping to help keep the airways open.
What Does This Mean for You?
If you snore loudly or feel tired during the day, you might have OSA. It’s important to talk to your doctor about these symptoms because untreated OSA can lead to other serious health problems.
The researchers behind this study are continuing to look at the link between OSA and heart disease.
They’re also exploring whether screening for OSA could help people who have had a heart attack. With this ongoing research, we hope to learn more about how to detect and treat OSA in the future.
If you care about sleep, please read studies about herb that could help you sleep well at night, and these drugs could lower severity of sleep apnea by one third.
For more information about sleep, please see recent studies that coffee boosts your physical activity, cuts sleep, affects heartbeat, and results showing how to deal with “COVID-somnia” and sleep well at night.
The study was published in ERJ Open Research.
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