My Life and Sleep Apnea

How long can you hold your breath under water? If you haven’t been trained to hold your breath while diving or swimming under water you will probably only last a minute or two before surfacing. Some trained divers can hold their breath for periods up to 9 minutes. So what does this have to do with sleep apnea? The term mammalian diving reflex shows that when you are under water you ability to hold on to oxygen is greater than when you are sleeping. What is mammalian diving reflex ? According to Wikipedia “The mammalian diving reflex optimizes respiration which allows mammals to stay underwater for a long time. It is exhibited strongly in aquatic mammals, but exists in a weaker version in other mammals, including humans. Diving birds, such as penguins, have a similar diving reflex. Every animal's diving reflex is triggered specifically by cold water contacting the face – water that is warmer than 21 °C (70 °F) does not cause the reflex, and neither does submersion of body pa...

Many things can happen to your body when you are sleeping such as good things like resting and rejuvenating your mind and body. Of course if you have sleep apnea those things don’t necessarily occur. When you have sleep apnea there are things that happen that are detrimental to your health. Because of the stoppage of breathing the oxygen in your blood becomes quite low. This in turn sends a signal to the brain to wake up. Low oxygen in the blood can result in low blood sugar and eventually diabetes . What is low blood sugar ? Low blood sugar or Hypoglycemia occurs when your body’s sugar or glucose is released into the blood stream too slowly or it is used up too quickly. The hormone insulin can also have an effect on low blood sugar. It is created by the pancreas when there is too much sugar in the system. Besides sleep apnea as a cause alcoholism and live disease can also bring it on. This is a very serious health problem that you should be treated for. If the sleep ...