The last two weeks of teaching before winter break are always exhausting, but when you have a spouse whose snoring and restlessness wakes you up several times during the night, these last 14 days came seem impossible. For this reason, you have finally moved to the guest bedroom to get the rest that you need. In an effort to find a more permanent solution, you have also made your husband promise that he will do a home sleep test for sleep apnea over the holiday break.
If your partner’s sleep habits have you both exhausted and worried, a home sleep test for sleep apnea may be the solution you are looking for. One of the scariest reasons that you should take a serious approach to diagnosing sleep apnea is that people that have an untreated case of sleep apnea face a risk of stroke that is as much as four times as likely as those who are not afflicted. In addition, untreated sleep apnea sufferers are three times as likely to have heart disease.
It really should come as no surprise that sleep apnea products, like CPAP machines and nasal pillow masks, can have a positive impact. The fact that the 18 million sleep apnea sufferers in America can wake up again and again during the night is an immediate indicator that they, and their sleeping partners, are not getting the rest that they need. This is unfortunate because there really are many sleep apnea treatment options.
A CPAP machine, when used as directed, can help patients get the rest that they need and be far more productive when they are at work or enjoying their everyday activities. Unfortunately, 2% to 4% of all Americans have an undiagnosed case of sleep apnea, meaning that approximately one in 50 individuals are undiagnosed. Not knowing that you have this dangerous condition not only limits the amount of rest that you get every night, it also has many other health implications.
On an average night, a person who suffers from obstructive sleep apnea may experience 60 apneas every hour. Waking up exhausted every day means that these patients are often unable to properly function at work or their daily tasks, and are setting themselves up for chronic health conditions like heart disease. Worse yet, these undiagnosed cases are more likely to suffer a stroke.
What are you doing to make sure that your spouse is getting the needed rest to be both productive and healthy? Maybe a home sleep test for sleep apnea can start you down the pathway to getting the rest that you need.