Sleep Apnea & Women

Although sleep apnea occurs in women less often than it does in men (who experience sleep apnea twice as much as women), it's still an issue that females deal with on a regular basis. In addition to experiencing sleep apnea less often than men, women also tend to experience a milder version of the sleeping disorder. Women who are most at risk are over the age of 40, overweight and have genetic predispositions.

Definition

• Sleep apnea is a relatively common sleeping disorder. Those who suffer from the disorder experience pauses in breathing while they are asleep that last anywhere from 10 seconds to one minute. More often than not, women with sleep apnea don't realize they have the sleeping disorder until they begin to show symptoms of poor sleep, symptoms that often go ignored for years and even decades. Sleep apnea is diagnosed when the person suffering from the disorder undergoes an overnight sleep test referred to as a polysomnogram (sleep study).

Symptoms

• The symptoms of sleep apnea are sometimes different for women compared to the sleep apnea symptoms that men experience. Women often have more trouble when falling asleep and often show more signs of narcolepsy than men do. In addition, women report more disrupted sleep than their male counterparts. All those who suffer sleep apnea, in general, experience excessive daytime sleepiness, depression/irritability, sexual dysfunction (a lack of sexual desire in women), gasping or choking while sleeping (often detected by someone other than the sufferer), morning headaches and lethargy. Most of these symptoms are a direct result of poor quality of sleep.

Causes

• The causes of sleep apnea in women often involve physical characteristics that the sufferer has no control over. Those physical characteristics include large tonsils, overly relaxed throat and tongue muscles, deviated septum, the shape of the head and/or neck and a receding chin. In addition to these physical causes of sleep apnea, women who are overweight, smoke and consume large qualities alcohol or sedatives are also at high risk.

Treatment

• When diagnosed, sleep apnea in women is easy to treat. Often it includes a change in diet, weight loss, changing your sleeping position, quitting smoking, a decrease in alcohol consumption and occasionally prescribed medication. For more severe cases your doctor may also prescribe a nasal dilator or ventilation system that helps decreases the lapses in breathing that occur with sleep apnea.

Dangers

• Because it's almost impossible for a person to realize she has sleep apnea, the disorder often goes untreated. If you suspect sleep apnea because you are drowsy or experience any of the above symptoms, contact your physician immediately. Sleep apnea that goes untreated can put the sufferer under a significant amount of risk that affects her overall well being and happiness. Those dangers are often a direct result low sleep quality and include: depression, crankiness, lethargy and a poorly functioning body and mind. The oxygen deprivation caused by sleep apnea also increases a person's risk of heart disease and high blood pressure.