My Life and Sleep Apnea

A lot more goes on when you are sleeping then you would think. Instead of your body just hibernating for eight or so hours and then waking up, sleep performs many functions. As you probably know there are five stages of sleep that you routinely go through every night, not in any particular order. As you can imagine sleep apnea interrupts this process depriving you of the full affects of sleep, which are rest and important restoration of the brain and body, possibly the most important one the Rapid Eye Movement or REM . What is REM? According to  Free dictionary dot com “REM is a stage in the normal sleep cycle during which dreams occur and the body undergoes marked changes including rapid eye movement, loss of reflexes, and increased pulse rate and brain activity. It is also called paradoxical sleep.” A lot goes on during REM such as increased heart rate, brain activity and muscle relaxation. In this state dreaming occurs as well as memory and learning development...

Night after sleepless night of sleep apnea leads to long tired days that seem to never end. Your energy level is zapped and doing the smallest chore wears you out. In fact even laying in bed takes more energy with sleep apnea then if you had a completely peaceful night where you slept the whole way through. According to the University of Colorado researchers lying in bed with s leep apnea does in fact burn more energy than falling asleep . I know that doesn’t sound like much of a surprise but you do burn more calories that way. The research from the article suggests that it would be like walking 2 miles! Muscle repair and restoration occurs in what sleep stage? When we sleep at night our bodies go through 5 sleep stages . The stage that most people are aware of is REM or rapid eye movement which usually lasts 90 to 120 minutes a night. Unfortunately sleep apnea becomes worse during this most important sleep stage. While you can dream during any sleep stage, REM is usually the ti...

Why is sleep important ? The easy answer is because our bodies and our minds need rest. Without it we would be restless, not alert and probably in a less than happy mood during the day. If you have sleep apnea or another sleep disorder like insomnia, narcolepsy or restless leg syndrome then you really know how important sleep is. But is there more to sleep than just rest? What is interesting about sleep is that it isn’t an inactive time for your body and brain. Everything doesn’t just “shut down”. Sleep is broken down into five stages with the REM stage probably the most well known. Some of the things going on during sleep 1. muscles and tissues are repaired and the body’s cells are being replaced 2. memory is being processed 3. our body conserves energy 4. dreams occur during the REM sleep stage Sleep apnea and other sleep disorder patients don’t receive the full benefits of sleep. That is why it is so vitally important to cure any problems that may be hindering ...

What occurs when you sleep? Is sleep just one constant pattern all night? No, there are five stages of sleep . The first four stages are considered nonREM and the last stage is REM sleeping. The first stage is between wakefulness and light sleep. It lasts only a few minutes. The heart rate slows and body temperature lowers during the second stage. Brain waves known as sleep spindles begin to occur. The third stage is where light sleep becomes deep sleep. The brain waves become deep and slow at this stage. Stage 4 is a deep sleep that only lasts for 30 minutes. The brain waves are very deep and slow. REM is stage five. In this stage dreams occur. The brain activity is increased and the body’s muscles are relaxed. Breathing becomes shallow and deep. There is rapid eye movement. This is the stage that Sleep Apnea patients never get to. The body will go through these stages about 4 to 5 times a night. Feel free to comment and please subscribe to my RSS Feed thanks