The widely used club drug ecstasy appears to increase the risk of sleep apnea, say U.S. researchers.

“People who use ecstasy need to know that this drug damages the brain and can cause immediate and dangerous problems such as sleep apnea,” study author Dr. Una McCann, of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, said in a news release.

McCann and colleagues conducted sleep tests on 71 people who’d used ecstasy (MDMA) and 62 people who’d never used the illegal drug. Ecstasy users had a more than eight-fold increased risk of sleep apnea compared to non-users. Mild sleep apnea rates were similar in both groups (21% of ecstasy users and 27% of non-users), but only ecstasy users had moderate (13%) or severe (1%) sleep apnea.

The longer a person used ecstasy, the more sleep apnea episodes they experienced, said the researchers. They also found that ecstasy use was a greater risk factor for sleep apnea than obesity.

The study is published in the Dec. 2 online issue of the journal Neurology.

Source: http://www.medicinenet.com

What is Sleep Apnea?

Sleep Apnea — a condition in which your tongue and soft palate collapse onto the back of your throat during sleep. This blocks your airway and, when your oxygen level drops low enough, it forces your brain to move out of deep sleep to partially awaken you. You awaken repeatedly with a loud gasp and return to sleep.

If you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea you can get follow advices:

1. – Tell a spouse or responsible persons the details of your diagnosis and treatment so they can inform the physician in an emergency situation

2. – Avoid narcotic (opioid) pain medications such as morphine, which can lead to life-threatening hypoxia (low oxygen), even in patients with mild sleep apnea

3. – Avoid alcoholic beverages (or use with moderation) within 3 hours of bedtime

4. – Avoid (or use with ca

ution) sleeping pills and other medication known to cause sedation

5. – If you smoke, quit. You are three times more likely to have sleep apnea if you smoke than if you never smoked or stopped smoking. – Improve your nasal breathing. f you suffer from a ‘stuffed up’ nose, then try using a nasal spray to help open up your nasal airway. Nasal sprays should not however be used regularly or for prolonged periods, as they can cause damage to the tissues of the nose. Read The Full Story…

The symptoms of sleep apnea. People with sleep apnea usually snore loudly and have restless sleep. Often these symptoms are not noticed by the person with sleep apnea but by the partner. The partner may also notice pauses in breathing and snoring lasting between 10 seconds and a minute. Each pause ends with a very deep gasping or snoring noise and a brief awakening as the person struggles to breathe. As a result of the problems during sleep, the person with sleep apnea is usually very sleepy in the day and may wake in the morning feeling “hungover”. As the day progresses the lack of sleep may take its toll and they struggle to stay awake. In passive situations, such as watching TV, this may not be a problem but it can affect the person’s ability to concentrate and function at work. It can be extremely dangerous if it occurs while driving. Other symptoms which can occur in untreated sleep apnea are impotence, personality changes, depression, irritability, loss of memory and concentration and increased frequency of urination at night. Read The Full Story…

Sleep Apnea. Apnea means absence of breath. Sleep apnea occurs when the airway from the mouth to the lung collapses during sleep. The person with sleep apnea may have hundreds of these episodes throughout the night, disrupting their sleep and reducing oxygen supply to vital organs. Sleep apnea is a common condition affecting about 5% of adults. Fortunately effective treatment is available and once treated the person with sleep apnea leads a normal healthy life.
The symptoms of sleep apnea. People with sleep apnea usually snore loudly and have restless sleep. Often these symptoms are not noticed by the person with sleep apnea but by the partner. The partner may also notice pauses in breathing and snoring lasting between 10 seconds and a minute. Each pause ends with a very deep gasping or snoring noise and a brief awakening as the person struggles to breathe. As a result of the problems during sleep, the person with sleep apnea is usually very sleepy in the day and may wake in the morning feeling “hungover”. As the day progresses the lack of sleep may take its toll and they struggle to stay awake. In passive situations, such as watching TV, this may not be a problem but it can affect the person’s ability to concentrate and function at work. It can be extremely dangerous if it occurs while driving. Other symptoms which can occur in untreated sleep apnea are impotence, personality changes, depression, irritability, loss of memory and concentration and increased frequency of urination at night. Read The Full Story…

Sleep apnea affects numerous people. It is a condition where a person stops breathing while sleeping. It can affect anybody of any age, race, or gender. There are three types of sleep apnea: obstructive, central and mixed. The cause of each type is specific and determining which type you have is necessary to see what type of treatment you should get.

Only your doctor or sleep specialist can tell you which treatment option is best for you.

1. Obstructive Sleep Apnea (or O.S.A. for short) is about as bad as it gets. People may joke about it, but O.S.A. iscertainly no laughing matter because it can kill you. And according to the Mayo Clinic, up to 1 in 4 Americans suffer from this deadly health concern. Now this is a really worrying statistic to say the least.

- Positional therapy: Apneas be predisposed to be worse when sleeping on the back as gravity makes it more likely for the tongue to fall back over the airway and/or for the airway muscles and other tissue) to collapse and block the airway.

- Weight loss: Sleep apnea can be weight-related. Additional fat around the neck may make the airway narrower, making obstructions more likely to occur. For some overweight people, especially those with mild cases, losing weight can be an effective treatment. Read The Full Story…

Sleep and weight loss have a power connection. They are invert relation: sleep loss, weight gain and sleep more, weight loss. Sleep loss appears to do two worst things that affect our weight: boost the appetite that makes you take in more calories and reduce the metabolism which helps to burn calories.

Study:
Researchers at Laval University in Quebec looked at 276 people for six years who were part of a larger Canadian study.

Sleep duration was determined from a questionnaire and the participants were classified into three groups: short sleepers slept five to six hours a night, the average got seven to eight hours, and the long sleepers put in nine to 10 hours of sleep every night.

Some of the findings:
Over six years, short sleepers were 35% more likely to gain 11 pounds than average-duration sleepers.
Over the same time period, long sleepers were 25% more likely to gain 11 pounds than average-duration sleepers.
Short sleepers gained 58% more around their waists and 124% more body fat than the average sleeper.

Sleep Apnea and Weight
Weight loss to treat sleep apnea can create an interesting dilemma. While losing weight reduces the symptoms of sleep apnea, losing weight when you have sleep apnea can prove to be a difficult undertaking. The reason for this is simple: when you can’t get enough sleep, you are too tired to exercise for weight loss. Read The Full Story…