10/5/2016

Is Sleep Apnea Hereditary? Symptoms & Treatmentshealthform.org/is-sleep-apnea-hereditary-symptoms-treatments/

Sleep apnea involves disruptive breathing patterns (i.e. shallow breaths) during sleep. This pattern is sustainedand prolonged leading to several symptoms.

This is a problem which is estimated to affect millions of people around the world. With the airway being cloggedup, a person can have spurts of blocked breath reaching up to a minute in duration.

A patient suffering from sleep apnea can be prone to 30+ experiences in an hour while sleeping. This read willassess this disorder and whether sleep apnea is hereditary.

What Is Sleep Apnea?

Sleep apnea is a disorder in the same order as sleep paralysis, narcolepsy and can range from mild to severe.

Obstructive sleep apnea is actually a serious and common sleep disorder that causes you to cease breathingduring sleep.

The airway continuously gets impeded, limiting the level of atmosphere that actually reaches your respiratorysystem.

At these times, you could possibly snore loudly or creating choking disturbances as you may make an effort toinhale and exhale. Your brain and body becomes air deprived and you might get out of bed.

This may happen once or twice an evening, or perhaps in much more serious circumstances, up to 100's ofinstances throughout your sleep.

Symptoms

Beginning with symptoms, a patient will showcase several during their sleeping session. Patients with severeapnea are often startled and wake up in a state of panic.

Let’s take a look at some of the common symptoms:

Morning Headaches

Waking Up With Sore Throat

General Fatigue During The Day

Restless Sleep

Waking Up With Choking Feeling

Significant Mood Changes During The Day

Loud Snoring

These are all symptoms a person with sleep apnea will display. Some will have a severe case where thesesymptoms are extravagant, while others will have timid symptoms.

It’s best to have it diagnosed effective immediately.

Side Effects

Sleep apnea also has some very serious and much more disturbing side effects than the usual issues

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mentioned.

These can include, but are not limited to:

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Causes

What are some of the causes of sleep apnea?

Why do some people have it and others don’t? Is it inherited and can it be passed down generations?

As the heart of this read will be looking at the question “is sleep apnea hereditary?”, it’s best to assess theleading causes according to medical studies.

Here is a list of sleep apnea causes highlighted by medical experts:

Relaxation Of Throat Muscles

Airways Closing Unnaturally

Being Overweight

Neck Circumference Greater Than 15 Inches

High Blood Pressure

Smoking

Genetic Disposition

All of these causes can shape one’s proneness to sleep apnea. This doesn’t mean a person has to initiate allcauses to have sleep apnea.

Even one of these causes is enough to cause trouble.

Is Sleep Apnea Hereditary?

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Is sleep apnea hereditary?

This brings the subject back to the central question, “is sleep apnea hereditary?” and the answer is yes...in somecases.

Sleep apnea as a disorder is not solely genetically predisposed. A person with these genes does not have todisplay signs of sleep apnea nor does a person without said genes can remain symptom-free.

Hereditary causes are not binding with sleep apnea and are just one of the causes listed.

A study completed in “Sleep Medicine Review” journal displayed 40% of all sleep apnea patients tested havingfamilial factors causing their symptoms.

This particular factor was named apnea hypopnea index, which enabled a person with this geneticpredisposition to have such symptoms.

Further studies have shown distinct racial backgrounds to have a greater likelihood for sleep apnea.

These include Pacific Islanders, Hispanic, and Black individuals.

Treatment

What is the treatment for those who are suffering from sleep apnea and have had it diagnosed? What will asleep specialist recommend in such cases?

Sleep apnea will be diagnosed after an overnight sleep test is run on the patient.

This is done in an organized manner to assess how a patient sleeps and the amount of “disruptions” they haveduring a set sleeping session.

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Milder cases will be recommended the first step options. A simple lifestyle change can be enough to cease allissues.

For severe cases, a mask is provided for sleep. This is called EPAP which will regulate air pressure going intothe lungs as one sleeps.

There are variations of this mask including EPAP which provides additional pressure and is stronger, BiPAPwhich provides more pressure during inhaling and less while exhaling.

For those who want a simpler solution, oral appliances are provided so one can sleep with their mouth open andnot constricted.

Severe cases with no long-term solution might require jaw reconstruction surgery or tissue removal. This willdepend on each specific case and what the diagnosis is.

Summary

This is all one needs to know about sleep apnea and whether it is hereditary or not. This is one of the mosttroubling disorders a person can have, but one that can be treated with attention to detail.

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