What is sleep apnea?

Sleep apnea is a disorder characterized by a reduction or pause of breathing (airflow) during sleep. It is common among adults but rare among children. Although a diagnosis of sleep apnea often will be suspected on the basis of a person's medical history, there are several tests that can be used to confirm the diagnosis. The treatment of sleep apnea may be either surgical or nonsurgical.

An apnea is a period of time during which breathing stops or is markedly reduced. In simplified terms, an apnea occurs when a person stops breathing for 10 seconds or more. If you stop breathing completely or take less than 25% of a normal breath for a period that lasts 10 seconds or more, this is an apnea. This definition includes complete stoppage of airflow. Other definitions of apnea that may be used include at least a 4% drop in oxygen in the blood, a direct result of the reduction in the transfer of oxygen into the blood when breathing stops.

Apneas usually occur during sleep. When an apnea occurs, sleep usually is disrupted due to inadequate breathing and poor oxygen levels in the blood. Sometimes this means the person wakes up completely, but sometimes this can mean the person comes out of a deep level of sleep and into a more shallow level of sleep. Apneas are usually measured during sleep (preferably in all stages of sleep) over a two-hour period. An estimate of the severity of apnea is calculated by dividing the number of apneas by the number of hours of sleep, giving an apnea index (AI in apneas per hour); the greater the AI, the more severe the apnea.

A hypopnea is a decrease in breathing that is not as severe as an apnea. Hypopneas usually occur during sleep and can be defined as 69% to 26% of a normal breath. Like apneas, hypopneas also may be defined as a 4% or greater drop in oxygen in the blood. Like apneas, hypopneas usually disrupt the level of sleep. A hypopnea index (HI) can be calculated by dividing the number of hypopneas by the number of hours of sleep.

The apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) is an index of severity that combines apneas and hypopneas. Combining them gives an overall severity of sleep apnea including sleep disruptions and desaturations (a low level of oxygen in the blood). The apnea-hypopnea index, like the apnea index and hypopnea index, is calculated by dividing the number of apneas and hypopneas by the number of hours of sleep.

Another index that is used to measure sleep apnea is the respiratory disturbance index (RDI). The respiratory disturbance index is similar to the apnea-hypopnea index; however, it also includes respiratory events that do not technically meet the definitions of apneas or hypopneas, but do disrupt sleep.

Sleep apnea is formally defined as an apnea-hypopnea index of at least 15 episodes/hour in a patient if they do not have medical problems that are believed to be caused by the sleep apnea. This is the equivalent of approximately one episode of apnea or hypopnea every 4 minutes. High blood pressure, stroke, daytime sleepiness, congestive heart failure (low flow of blood to the heart), insomnia, or mood disorders can be caused or worsened by sleep apnea. In the presence of these conditions, sleep apnea is defined as an apnea-hypopnea index of at least five episodes/hour. This definition is stricter because these individuals may be already experiencing the negative medical effects of sleep apnea, and it may be important to begin treatment at a lower apnea-hypopnea index.

Secrets of sleep

When we have a more hectic and busy day it influences our sleep. According to some studies one-third of the adult population on the planet has serious problems with this vital process.

We sleep normally for about 8.5 hours per day. However with increasing age, these hours decrease.

Sleep is required for the rebuilding of the tension stress, also exercise during the day aids in this process too. But too often we sacrifice something for those hours, working, meeting, party or just an interesting movie on TV.

As a result of which, allegedly without cause, we become apathetic, meaning we are constantly tired and this in turn affects our health and the immune system.

Some of us are trying to catch up with sleep at the weekend. But as a result of being in bed for a prolonged time...[ More ]

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Not much sleep, less likely to get dementia

Attention, Sleepyhead! Too much sleep may harm your health.

Spanish researchers found that older people who sleep more than nine hours a day, have a higher risk of developing dementia.

Dementia is a disease of the nervous system which is characterized by a deterioration of mental capacity and impaired concentration. Dementia is a disease that can occur during old age.

The study involved 3, 300 adults who were subjected to periodic surveys over three years. The results showed that those who sleep ten or more hours per day, including during the day, run the risk of advanced dementia and the risk is increased twofold.

Conclusions have been made taken into account other factors such as age, education, bad habits, smoking and consumption of alcohol.

Threatened wi...[ More ]

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Sleep Disorders: narcolepsy

If you have problems sleeping and it affects your mental, physical and emotional condition, then it is possible you are suffering from Sleep Disorders.

What is narcolepsy?

Chronic sleep disorder characterized by sudden onset of sleep and wasting drowsiness during the day.

People who suffer from narcolepsy find it very difficult to stay awake for a long time. Narcolepsy is often confused with depression,

What are the signs and symptoms of narcolepsy?

• Excessive daytime sleepiness
One of the main features of narcolepsy is uncontrolled sleep during the day with huge drowsiness. People who suffer from narcolepsy fall asleep without warning, anywhere and anytime.

• abrupt loss of muscle tone
This condition, is known as cat...[ More ]

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What impact flowers have on Dreams

Sleep with flowers in your bedroom, if you want sweet dreams, scientists recommend, cited by Air Force.

Volunteers who participated in the experiment were allowed to sleep in the room with roses, and later admitted that they experienced pleasant emotions in their dreams. The smell of rotten eggs had did exactly the opposite effect and does not sound particularly surprising.

It is possible that odors can make their dreams more pleasant, believes Prof. Boris Glass and his team from University Hospital in Mannheim.

Scientists waited until the experiment participants entered the phase of REM sleep when most dreams occur, then in 10 seconds they put forward a strong dose of sweet air and a minute later they woke up.

Then the volunteers were questioned about their dreams and how t...[ More ]

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Not really clear why we sleep?

For decades, scientists are trying to unravel the mechanism of sleep and still have not succeeded in clarifying this matter.

According to the allegations of U.S. experts in sleep and, supported by their colleagues from around the world, one thing is certain: mammals die without sleep.

Continued absence of sleep leads to hallucinations, changes in mood and in some cases even death.

There are two phases of sleep, in which the eyes move rapidly under the eyelids, and the other which do not move quickly.

That in which the eyes move slowly are to conserve energy, and virtually stops the aging of the body, this is something like quiescent sleep. Metabolism is slowed and the processes in the body are running very slowly.

In the other phase, which eyes are moving ...[ More ]

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Tea agains nightmares?

One of the many benefits for our body is a regular consumption of tea. This amazing natural potion, which is prepared from leaves, buds, flowers and fruits of certain plants helps against many diseases. It has been proven that infusions of black tea leads to melting of fat and is an excellent way to maintain a good figure.

According to recent studies regular consumption of green or black tea helps us not to dream nightmares. According to medical studies of Japanese people who drink one or more cups of tea a day , 50 percent were less likely to wake up at night due to a nightmare.

The reason for the favorable effect of tea infusions on the nervous system of humans lies in teanin amino acid which is contained in the leaves. The teanin has a soothing effect on the brain by reducing levels of stress and anxiet...[ More ]

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Silence against insomnia

Ancient East uses a very effective means of insomnia, regardless of its cause. And this is silence.

Try not to talk to relatives or acquaintances for 24 hours. If you work, limit your contacts to a minimum. But for this purpose better choose a day on which you are at home. If you remain silent throughout the day, you will relax your emotions, which have some control over your nervous system. As a result you will sleep peacefully. Refraining from speaking accumulates more internal energy in man, and he now has the strength to cope with some of his problems.

It happens to some when feeling torment and frustration as one never ceases to talk to someone. In this case, you can record your thoughts on tape. Thus, having conspired, you will have a better sleep.

If you are conversational in nature...[ More ]

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31 facts that people don't know

1. During 1918-1919 the influenza epidemic killed more than 20 million people in the U.S. and Europe.

2. On average 725 Km of hair grow on people during their life.

3. In men a blond beard grows faster than a redheads.

4. Human DNA contains about 80, 000 genes.

5. It is believed that the men are dwarfs in stature below 130 cm and for women less than 120 cm

6. During the life of a man his thumb narrows on average about 25 million times.

7. The size of the human heart is approximately the size of a fist and the heart weight of an adult is 220-260 g

8. For one day the human brain generates more electrical impulses from all phones in the world put together.

9. The total weight of all the bacteria that live in t...[ More ]

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Purpose of dreams

Dreams are so compelling, and they often seem so weird and strange -- surely they must have a "purpose"; that is, an "adaptive role" in the maintenance of our bodily or psychological health. Furthermore, all the famous theorists who talk about dreams claim that dreams do have one or another purpose (although the famous theorists disagree on just what those functions are), but the best current evidence suggests otherwise. Dreams probably have no purpose!

So let's review the arguments and the evidence. We'll start with the claims made by psychoanalysts and clinical psychologists in the first 50 years of the century based on their work with patients, then turn to more recent claims, some of which are based on work in sleep and dream laboratories that flourished in the 1950's and 1960's. The views presented here are those of research psychologists who have studied dreams inside and outside the laboratory, especially David Foulkes and Calvin Hall.

The first and most famous dream theorist of the modern era, Sigmund Freud, said that the function of dreams was to preserve sleep, but that theory from the year 1900 is contradicted by the fact that dreams happen very regularly at least five or six times per night in an active stage of sleep called REM sleep (after the rapid eye movements that are part of it, along with many other neurological and physiological changes). In other words, dreams don't just happen as we are about to wake up due to hunger pangs, sexual urges, or the need to go to the bathroom, as Freud thought way back when, before REM sleep was discovered in 1953.

The other famous dream theorist of the modern era, Carl Jung, an early follower of Freud who broke away to develop a very different theory, claimed that the function of dreams is to compensate for those parts of the psyche (total personality) that are underdeveloped in waking life, but Calvin Hall's studies of two-week dream series from students and longer dream journals from adults of all ages strongly suggest that dream content is continuous with waking thought and behavior. That is, if we are outgoing and active in our waking life, and not very introspective and reflective, then so too in our dream life, which contradicts Jung's view.

Still other dream theorists say that dreams have a problem-solving function. Dreams supposedly deal with problems we can't solve in waking life and offer solutions. But a variety of systematic studies find precious little support for this view. However, this is one of those places where we have developed "uses" for our dreams as part of our cultural lore. Looking at them in the light of waking day, and believing that they may be full of insight, we may sometimes come up with new ideas or insights while studying them. That is, we have invented a "use" for dreams, but that doesn't mean that problem solving is a psychological function of dreams built into us over evolutionary time.

So much for the claims by clinical theorists. Now we look at claims that have emerged in recent years, but are tied to no particular theory or famous theorist. They are the new "common sense" of our day, based on a reverence for physiological findings and the awesome capabilities of computers.

When REM sleep was first discovered, it was thought that dreams only occurred during that stage of sleep. This led to many functional theories about dreaming that were based on alleged functions for REM sleep. But we now have reason to believe that plenty of dreams happen in non-REM (NREM) sleep, especially late in the sleep period.

Furthermore, awakenings of children under age 5 in the sleep laboratory reveal that they only report dreams from REM sleep awakenings 20-25% of the time, so REM sleep does not automatically equate to dreaming. In addition, REM sleep can be found in all mammals, and it is unlikely that they are dreaming, i.e., imagining a world or story in which they are taking part and interacting with others. Dreams, as the pre-eminent American psychologist on dreams, David Foulkes, likes to say, are a "cognitive achievement." We only gradually develop the ability to dream. What all this adds up to is that REM sleep and dreaming are not the same thing, so whatever functions REM sleep may have cannot be taken as functions for dreaming and dreams.

5 main types of dreams

All dreams may be classified under five main types: there is the enigmatic dream, in Greek oneiros; second, there is the prophetic vision, in Greek horama; third, there is the oracular dream, in Greek chrematismos; fourth, there is the nightmare, in Greek enhypnion; and last, the apparition, in Greek, phantasma, which Cicero, when he has occasion to use the word, calls "visum."

Nightmares may be caused by physical or mental distress, or anxiety about the future; the patient experiences in dreams vexations similar to those that disturb him during the day.

We call a dream oracular in which a parent, or a pious or revered man, or a priest, or even a god clearly reveals what will or will not transpire... We call a dream a prophetic vision if it actually comes true... By an enigmatic dream we mean one that conceals with strange shapes and veils with ambiguity the true meaning of the information being offered, and requires an interpretation for its understanding.

Entered the world of dreams

Last night, as you slept, you entered the world of dreams. This world is sometimes magical, at other times horrifying, yet each night you return there probably four or five times. Each of us does this and we cannot stop ourselves from crossing the threshold into this world. Why? Is there a purpose to your dreams? Of the more than 2,000 dreams you will have this year are any of them meaningful? The answer is yes, all of them, and learning to interpret them will help you change your life for the better.

Take John, for example, who dreamt that Van Morrison was sitting on the floor holding a pint of Guinness in his hand and arguing with his wife. In reality John and his wife were having an ongoing conflict. With the help of dream analysis John learned that he was holding onto a black and white attitude (holding the black and white Guinness) which he had picked up from watching his own parents (adults in the dream) deal with conflict in his childhood (when John used to sit on the floor). John listened to his dream and made positive changes that helped resolve the conflict.

Dream Analysis is not new, but in our 'Western' pursuit of science has been forgotten or overlooked by many. As far back as the Old Testament, Joseph showed us that dreams contain important messages. Native American cultures hold dreams in high regard as messages from the spirit world. For the Irish, Saint Patrick admitted he was told to come to Ireland in a dream. We also find Shakespeare accepting that dreams could be used to warn Julius Caesar of his murder.

So what are dreams? Dreams are the language of the Soul. Through dreams the soul comments on all aspects of our lives such as health, relationships, career and spirituality.

Prophetic dreams depend on the pillow

If every 7 days you change the location of your pillow, then this will help you remember your dreams.

In practice it means that one week to sleep the top end of the bed and the next to sleep at the other end so to lay your head on the pillow where your feet would had been the previous week, and vice versa.

Photo: Grad.bg

Permanent change of posture of the body helps to remember especially those dreams that are important.

Most often dreams come true the next day or up to 9 months after you have dreamed them. If you've dreamed of something during the day, there is almost no chance of it to come true. Dreams which are seen after 8 pm and before midnight, come true within two months. Those you dream between 3 and 6 am, will come true in a few weeks.

Overall, prophetic dreams are fairly rare, so we should not attach too much importance to every dream and give more time to think about the prophetic.

What you reveal in erotic dreams

All men and women have erotic dreams. They grant wishes, eliminate fears and release stress. According to the study of French researchers, 70% of women and 80 percent of men have erotic dreams.

These dreams are starting from puberty to the emergence of first love thrills. Young people for example, dream of many snakes, which symbolizes the awakening of sexuality and stresses, according to George Romeo, Author of Dictionary of Dreams.

In the form of dreams, erotic fantasies are a sign of good health. Any man that has a dream of making love, is proof that you have a logical thought, are intuitive and have a strong imagination. The dream could also be a general rehearsal for the upcoming new stage in your love life.

According to theories of Freud the dream has a compensatory role, it reveals our subconscious desires and aspirations. Thus, releasing the accumulated tensions of the day, erotic dreams help us to overcome stress.

One of the functions of erotic dreams is to help us get rid of some inhibitions.