Central Sleep Apnea is a disorder in which you struggle to breathe while you sleep. The Mayo Clinic explains:

“Central sleep apnea is a disorder in which your breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. Central sleep apnea occurs because your brain doesn’t send proper signals to the muscles that control your breathing — unlike obstructive sleep apnea, in which you can’t breathe normally because of upper airway obstruction. Central sleep apnea is less common, accounting for fewer than 5 percent of sleep apnea cases.”

They make an important distinction between obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea. Central Sleep Apnea , the less common disorder, is often the result of other conditions like heart failure and/or stroke. It can also come from sleeping at high altitudes. The obstructive version is often a result of a narrow throat, large tonsils or tongue, or a large neck. It does not have to do with the brain sending signals to muscles like Central Sleep Apnea.

Symptoms of Central Sleep Apnea:

• Periods of stopped or abnormal breathing during sleep.
• Waking up abruptly because of these periods of “stopped breathing.”
• Insomnia
• Daytime drowsiness
• Morning headaches
• Snoring

Just because a person snores does not necessarily mean he/she suffers from any type of apnea. Snoring is more often a symptom of obstructive sleep apnea than Central Sleep Apnea. If you find yourself waking up because you couldn’t breathe it is probably a good idea to see a physician.

Risk Factors/Complications:

Central Sleep Apnea is more common in older men with heart disorders or who have suffered a stroke. Also if you are taking opioids like morphine, codeine, or oxycodone then you are more likely to experience CSA.

Other than making you tired (because you don’t get a good night’s rest) Central Sleep Apnea can cause cardiovascular problems. When you go through these periods of stopped breathing your blood oxygen levels dip down and that can take its toll on your heart, especially if you already have a heart condition.

Diagnosis:

Central Sleep Apnea can be diagnosed by several different specialists based on your symptoms. Sometimes they will conduct a polysomnography test (monitors breathing and other body functions during sleep) to confirm Central Sleep Apnea.

Treatment:

If you take opioids it would help to get off of them if possible. There are several gizmos and gadgets used to treat all types of sleep apnea. From masks to pumps, you can find the right product for you. Some people have found that supplemental oxygen (from a tank) can really help diminish Central Sleep Apnea. There aren’t too many medications for the treatment of Central Sleep Apnea. However, for those who live and sleep at a high altitude a doctor may prescribe acetazolamide.

Unfortunately, over-the-counter sleeping pills won’t do much to treat or diminish the effects of Central Sleep Apnea. But, if your CSA is compounded by insomnia and other sleeping disorders then you should consider trying some of our top rated sleeping pills.

Yoga has recently been used as a popular treatment for insomnia.  Essentially speaking, it involves the whole body and produces a relaxing effect while also simultaneously actually energizing the body.  It has been used quite frankly because with all the reasons for insomnia, the treatments can be just as bad.  They can leave you groggy, losing REM sleep, and also becoming dependent or addicted in general. 

This is not something that really appeals to most individuals in general terms.  It is not addictive at all in terms of yoga, and it has been known to be used for thousands of years already.  This ancient system also allows you to breathe better, and specifically speaking, some experts recommend that you use what’s called the sun salutation, which you can learn by talking to an instructor or by watching a YouTube video of course depending on your wants and needs. 

Either way, yoga has presented itself as a viable alternative to the undesirable sleeping pills of yesterday or even other natural treatments that involve pills in general.  It doesn’t work for everybody, and frankly some people will need sleeping pills, whether natural or prescription.  But it is certainly worth trying it only for all its other possible benefits that are unnamed here.

Insomnia is an elusive disease, as many have learned.  Some people take sleeping pills to deal with it.  But there is a disease called Fatal Familial Insomnia that is an extremely rare disease found in the brain.  It is abbreviated to FFI, and it is essentially found in a few people including an Italian family that descended from a man who lived 250 years ago.  His was the first case known, and in the 1990’s researchers found that it is caused by a dual gene mutation. 

It is a prion protein which results in an insoluble prion protein that regulates sleep.  In the Italian family’s case, it usually activates itself at the age of 40, and from there they just stop sleeping.  In this case, sleeping pills don’t help, and eventually they lose basic functioning skills and also eventually die of it.  When someone has this disease, they have a 50% chance of passing it onto their children, which makes it relatively common in the grand scheme of things. 

But only 40 families are actually said to have this gene running through their lines.  It has 4 stages that include insomnia resulting in panic attacks over time, and it lasts about 4 months.  Then they begin to experience hallucinations.  This is usually about 5 months.  Step 3 means they are completely unable to sleep no matter what they do, and they quickly lose weight for about 3 months.  Finally, it causes dementia and it lasts about 6 months until they die.  As you can see, this is a very unpleasant side of insomnia.