Snoring & Sleep Apnea
Healthy Sleep Matters!
Do you get enough sleep?
You’re 8 hours of sleep at night may not always result in waking up refreshed. If you agree, this could be a sign of fragmented, or interrupted sleep patterns. Lack of adequate sleep can affect mood, energy, attention, judgement and memory to name a few. It can also affect anyone from infants to older adults. In the long term, chronic sleep deprivation can result in a series of health problems such as high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and more. Sadly, poor sleep and many of these symptoms seem common, including sleep apnea, but remember just because it’s common it does not make it normal. Can you identify if you’re getting proper sleep or fragmented sleep?
Sleep Disordered Breathing
Sleep disordered breathing (SDB) includes a group of disorders characterized by abnormal respiratory patterns or insufficient ventilation during sleep. This includes Snoring, Sleep Obstructive Apnea and Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS). SDB affects sleep patterns, contributes to recurring daytime fatigue and exhaustion and puts strain on a persons nervous system and major organs.
Snoring & Sleep Apnea
For some people, the muscles in the back of the throat are weak and can collapse when laying back, disrupting the airway. When air flows past relaxed tissues, it causes them to vibrate resulting in the hoarse sound of snoring.
Sleep apnea occurs when the muscles are weak also, but instead results in complete obstruction of the airway. Aside from the muscles of the throat, a weak tongue can also also fall back into the throat creating an obstruction. When the airway is blocked, breathing stops during sleep (apnea) and the body and brain are deprived from oxygen.
A tongue tie or a low resting tongue are potential indicators of weak muscles and a compromised airway.
Depriving the body and brain of oxygen can have detrimental health effects.
ONLY medical doctors can diagnose sleep apnea.
Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS)
Newly termed the “young, fit, female” version of sleep apnea
Airway is not completely obstructed, but respiratory efforts are increased causing frequent arousals or awakenings
These individuals are more likely to have low blood pressure, higher levels of anxiety and difficulty concentrating during the day.
Often goes undetected because these individuals do not fit into the “typical” criteria for sleep disordered breathing
Adults and Sleep Apnea
Signs & Symptoms
Snoring
Headaches and/or jaw pain
Clenching or grinding
Waking with a dry mouth or throat
Excessive daytime fatigue
Hyperactivity
Chronic mouth breathing
Anxiety/depression/Mood changes
Restless leg syndrome
Choking/gasping during sleep
Waking often to use the bathroom
Snoring and mouth breathing through the night can be early warning signs of obstructive sleep apnea. There are a few standard treatment modalities for sleep apnea including CPAP machines, oral appliances and surgery. Myofunctional Therapy has been shown to be a great alternative treatment to sleep apnea by reducing its severity and even increasing CPAP compliance.
In recent studies, Myofunctional Therapy has been shown to reduce apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) by approximately 50% in adults and 62% in children, improves daytime sleepiness and improves snoring.
Children and Sleep Apnea
Signs & Symptoms
Snoring
ADHD/ADD
Hyperactivity
Bed wetting
Sleep walking
Teeth grinding
Restless sleep
Delayed growth
Mouth breathing
Sleep apnea and other sleep disordered breathing (SDB) conditions can have serious health consequences in children such as oral and facial development, behavioural concerns and overall health. Many sleep specialists are using Myofunctional Therapy to improve breathing during sleep with the emergence of new studies linking ADD/ADHA to SDB.
How Can Myofunctional Therapy Help?
In most cases of sleep disordered breathing, clients have weak and improperly functioning oral muscles. Through Myofunctional Therapy, we work to improve the tone of the soft palate, throat and back of the tongue to prevent and reduce the severity of snoring and sleep apnea. If you can strengthen those muscles, you can ease the symptoms and see many improvements in your sleep and overall health.
Do you or your child have a tongue tie?
It is recommended to monitor sleep patterns if a tongue tie is present, as it is a significant risk factor in the development of sleep disordered breathing.