by Bill Whitney

Created on: November 15, 2008

Obstructive Sleep Apnea is far more common than a lot of people would think. There are approximately 20 million men , women, and even children who have OSA. Obstructive Sleep Apnea is by far the most common type but there is a type called centalized sleep apnea too. OSA will be the topic of discussion in this article. What happens when you have OSA is that you stop breathing during sleep because the airway closes or collapses. Airway collapse can be due to such factors as a very large tongue, extra tissue in the airway or decreased muscle tone in the muscles holding the airway open. Any or all of this prevents air from getting into the lungs properly. These pauses in breathing can occur up to 30 times an hour and can lead to serious health conditions if not treated.

How do you find out if you have sleep apnea. Your doctor will schedule you for a sleep study known as a polysomnogram. It is completely painless and all you have to do is go to a sleep study center usually in a hospital and sleep over night. They hook up all kinds of leads and sensors all over your body and head to monitor eye movement, leg movement and everything plus they have a camera that watches you. You look like Milli Vanilli with all the leads and sensors hanging off your head. You lay down and go to sleep and then later they come in and give you a CPAP mask and watch the change after you get the CPAP mask From all this they can determine if you have sleep apnea and then they can decide on the proper treatment.

The best and easiest treatment is to be fitted for CPAP mask. CPAP stands for Continuos Positive Airway Pressue. It involves a machine that can be set for different pressures depending on what the individual needs to keep the airway open. It has a mask and headgear that you wear at night and it keeps your airway open and lets you get a good nights sleep. It is good to hook it through some kind of a mositue producing appartus because it drys out your nose if your don't This is definitely the treatment of choice but there are a few people who say they can't wear that mask or that it interferes with romance or their vanity. I have been wearing one now for nine years and I honestly have troble going to sleep without it, Once you get used to it, it is no problem and if you need to for some reason, just take it off. Heck, I even put mine on if I lay down to take an afternoon nap. Positive Airway Pressure provides a continuous flow of air through your nose using the mask. CPAP therapy is non

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