Sleep Apnea Essay -- Sleep Apnea Sleeping Disorders Essays

Sleep Apnea Sleep, why do people sleep at all? Why can't we just stay awake? Some biologist suggest that sleep provides the opportunity to conduct self-repair and purge the body of it's waste that has built up during the day's activity. Nevertheless, the body is capable of repairing itself and disposing of wastes during waking hours, so sleep in a way really isn't necessary for routine maintenance (e.g., urinating, etc.). Dr. Quentin Regestein, lead sleep and sleep disorders researcher at Harvard Medical School also believed that sleep kept our distant ancestors out of harms way during the night when they could not see as well as their night roaming predators. Sleep is regulated by a connected series of structures in the deep midline areas, and along other way stations that extend through the central axis of the brain, these structures relay information about things that affect sleep. In Dr. Regestein notes, he spoke of experiments that were performed by researchers. The researchers he spoke of would destroy specific brain structures of a lab animal and then note how the animal slept. For instances, in one lab animal the researcher cut through the axis of the brain at one level, which would prevented the animal from awakening; showing that brain structures below the level of the cut were responsible for awakening the lab animal. The American Sleep Disorders Association (ASDA), Association for the Psychophysiological Study of Sleep (APSS), Association of Sleep Disorder Centers (ASDC), and the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has studied sleep and sleep disorders since the early 1970's. Out of all the sleep disorders currently being studied, sleep apnea has gain world wide attention, affecting over 15 million people. Apnea, derived from the Greek word "want to breath." Sleep Apnea (cessation of air flow at the mouth for greater than 10 seconds) can reflect 1) loss of central nervous system drive to maintain ventilation, 2) mechanical upper airway obstruction, or combinations of both. The second edition of Anesthesia and Co-Existing Disease states "Conversely, obstructive forms of sleep apnea are due to an abnormal relaxation of the posterior pharyngeal muscles" - there is persistence of respiratory movements, but airflow is absent due to upper airway obstruction. Study shows awakening occurs when the arterial partial pre... ...p because of a sleep disorder like sleep apnea can eventually lead to interruption of daily task and human survival is greatly reduced. Many people choose to prognosis themselves as to why they are having trouble sleeping. Researchers urge patients with a unbalanced sleep pattern to seek professional help. "Five billion people go through the cycle of sleep and wakefulness every day, and relatively few of them know the joy of being fully rested and fully alert all day long." - William Dement (1988) References Arthur J. Speilman, Phd.D., and Paul B. Glovinsky, Ph.D. - Department of Psychology. The City College of New York Pinellas Public Library Cooperative, Inc. - InfoTrac System - Largo, Florida Drs. Robert K. Stoelting, Stephen F. Dierdorf , and Richard L. McCammon. -Second Edition / Anesthesia and Co-Existing Disease John P. Dworetzky - Psychology / Fifth Edition Dr. Quentin Regestein - lead sleep researcher, Harvard Medical School - Sleep problems and solutions Dr. Scott Mantel - Anesthesiologist - Morton Plant Hospital, Department of Anesthesiology Dr. Paul Borelli - Anesthesiologist - Morton Plant Hospital, Department of Anesthesiology