A good night’s sleep is a well deserved rest. This is the time we rejuvenate ourselves and take a break from our daily routines. And waking up feeling great and healthy is the best feeling anyone could ever ask for. But some of us often feel even more tired waking up in the morning. And you often wonder why that happens. The answer is simple – sleep apnea.
What is sleep apnea?
Sleep apnea is a condition marked by abnormal breathing during sleep. People with sleep apnea have multiple extended pauses in breath when they sleep. These temporary breathing lapses cause lower-quality sleep and affect the body’s supply of oxygen, leading to potentially serious health consequences.
Sleep apnea share certain common symptoms:
- Disrupted breathing in which a person’s respiration can become labored or even stop for up to a minute at a time
- Excessive daytime sleepiness
- Morning headaches
- Irritability
- Limited attention span or difficulty thinking clearly
- Many of these symptoms arise because of poor sleep and decreased oxygen levels that occur as a result of interrupted breathing.
Many of us Malaysians may not know that they have sleep apnea. It can happen to anyone, unknowingly and often suddenly. So why is it dangerous? How can it hurt your overall health? Here I have listed about 8 of them for you to be aware of.
1. Heart Disease
People with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are more likely to have heart attacks. It can happen anytime during the day and even as soon as you wake up. This is caused by the lack of oxygen during sleep. When you’re asleep, you may not be aware of your own oxygen intake, whether it’s enough or not. Sleep apnea will disrupt the way your body takes in oxygen which will then make it hard for your brain to control your blood flows in your body and arteries.
2. Diabetes
People with diabetes are more likely to have sleep apnea. Obesity raises the risk of getting one or the other, or both disorders. This is why we are encouraged to lead a healthy lifestyle and eat right. Enough exercise will help your body to stay in tip-top shape. Because of sleep apnea, you won’t get enough shut-eye, and not having enough sleep keeps your body from using insulin properly, thus leading to diabetes.
3. High Blood Pressure
Those who are already having high blood pressure, sleep apnea can be your biggest threat. You need to get a full night sleep without interruptions. Let’s say you have sleep apnea. When you wake up often in the middle of the night, your body system will get stressed. It will cause your hormonal systems to go into overdrive, which in turn boost your blood pressure levels. At the same time, your blood oxygen level drops which may add more to the problem.
Those with high blood pressure find that getting help with sleep apnea sees much improvement in their blood pressure levels. That is a good thing right?
4. Weight Gain (Obesity)
As I’ve mentioned above about diabetes, weight gain or obesity is also one of the dangers of sleep apnea. When you gain the extra pounds, you raise your chances of getting sleep apnea. And when you have this condition, it makes it harder to slim back down.
When you’re overweight, you can have fatty deposits in your neck that block breathing at night. On the flip side, sleep apnea can make your body release more of the hormone ghrelin, which makes you crave carbs and sweets. And when you’re tired all the time, you might not be able to turn the food you eat into energy as efficiently, which can lead to weight gain.
Treatments for sleep apnea can help you. It will make you feel better, have more energy when you wake up and be able to do more daily activities without feeling tired. It is best to start losing a few pounds too.
5. Daytime Sleepiness
You wake up in the morning, but you still feel tired. You find it odd because you had 8 hours of sleep but yet, something is not right. If you feel extra tired waking up in the morning, chances are you may have sleep apnea. Sleep apnea can take a toll on how you think and will affect your mood. You may feel less attentive and lack observation at times. Getting a treatment for sleep apnea can improve your sleep and help you feel better, waking up fresh in the morning.
6. Car Accidents
Yup. That’s right. Car accidents. This derives from the above subject – daytime sleepiness. When you feel sleepy or groggy during the day, please don’t drive. People who have sleep apnea are endangering themselves and others because they are more likely to cause accidents 5 times more than normal people. That is scary.
7. Memory Loss
It’s no doubt that when we get older, we will have more memory lapses or thinking problems. Although this may not be dementia, but researchers called it mild cognitive impairment (MCI). During research, the doctors suggest that the memory lapses or memory slips from MCI might show up sooner when someone has sleep apnea. So getting treatments for sleep apnea may delay a person’s memory problems from getting worse.
8. Depressions
Poor sleep might make you more likely to get depressed. And depression may raise your chances of getting a much worse sleep time. When this happens, you will get either one of the problems almost immediately. Sleep apnea causes you to have poor sleep. You will feel horrible when you wake up in the morning. With that, you get depressed. When you’re depressed, you will have trouble sleeping at night. Treatment for sleep apnea is the best way for you to have an almost immediate cure for both.
What are the treatments?
All the health problems linked to the condition can sound scary, but there are lots of ways to treat it.
Your doctor may recommend a machine called CPAP, short for continuous positive airway pressure. The machine, with a mask attached by a hose, can help you breathe better at night and get the rest you need. It can take some getting used to, but people who use it when they sleep feel better and are healthier.
There are other treatments, too, such as mouth appliances, nerve stimulators to keep your airways open, and several types of surgery. Talk to your doctor about which option is most likely to help you feel better and avoid other health problems.
But I have another simpler solution that may help you get a good night’s sleep.
Blood Oxygen Ring
Let’s rewind back to the beginning. What causes sleep apnea? Answer is, difficulty of breathing which leads to lack of oxygen in your blood. It’s basically that. So how can a Blood Oxygen Ring help? Let me tell you how.
Blood Oxygen Ring is a revolutionary device that you can wear on your finger, just like a ring. What it does is, it reads your heart rate (BPM) and it also scans the oxygen level in your blood, similar to an Oximeter that is available in clinics and hospitals. Technically it is an Oximeter, but the only difference is that you’re wearing it like a ring.
I have been using the Blood Oxygen Ring for a while now. I always use it when I go to sleep and let it continuously “read” my heart rate and oxygen saturation in my blood. There’s is an app that I installed on my phone to use with the Blood Oxygen Ring. It tracks my daily/hourly heart rate and oxygen levels. Very handy for someone who has sleep apnea problems.
Red light means it’s reading the oxygen level and heart rate. 
The sensor on the inside of the ring.
How it works is that when someone with sleep apnea condition wears the Blood Oxygen ring, the device will set out a strong vibration when it detects low oxygen level by the wearer. The default warning level is about 86% of blood oxygen, while in normal condition should be above 95%. I can set my own warning level from the app. I’ve set mine at 94% and so far, there’s no warning yet.
My heartbeat at 108bpm Blood oxygen saturation level at 98% = normal.
The strong vibration is enough to wake a person up. So whenever the wearer’s oxygen level drops below the threshold, the ring will vibrate to wake the wearer up. With that, he or she can adjust their sleeping position and breathe better for a good night’s sleep.
Trust me, the Blood Oxygen Ring is a very handy device to have around. And now we are just about to exit our lockdown here in Malaysia, the ring will also help with your daily blood oxygen monitoring. It is also useful for COVID-19 patients to track their oxygen level. Even the government is encouraging every household to have at least one oximeter at home. Great thing about the Blood Oxygen Ring, it is more than just an oximeter. IT CAN ACTUALLY SAVE YOUR LIFE.
Get your own Blood Oxygen Ring today! Right now you can get one Blood Oxygen Ring for yourself with a 5% discount by using my promo code: “ohsem.me5” during checkout. You can head over to their website to make the purchase right now or simply click on the following link: https://bloodoxygenring.com/discount/ohsem.me5
