Research in every country in the world has proven that hundreds of millions of people suffer from sleep disorders. In the USA alone, a 2002 survey revealed that 70 million Americans suffer from some sleep disorder. This is estimated to cost around $100 billion a year in accidents, medical care and unproductive working hours.
Sleep and headaches
Sleep disorders such as insomnia, hypersomnia and sleep apnea can often cause a headache. Headache and sleep disorders are symptoms that often coexist in the same person, either because one causes the other, or because they are symptoms of a common pathogenic mechanism or a common underlying disease.
Recent biochemical and functional imaging studies of the brain of patients with primary headaches demonstrate the existence of some common central mechanisms that are responsible for headache induction and are also sleep regulators.
Sleep deprivation and interrupted sleep can trigger the onset of primary headaches, although migraines are known to generally disappear after sleep. Recent studies of cluster headache patients have found rates of sleep apnea ranging from 31% to 80%.
Sleep apnea can trigger cluster headaches during the first hours of sleep, due to induced hypoxemia. Treating apnea causes the headache to decrease. The description that most patients suffering from sleep apnea give for their headache is: “heavy”, “cloudy”, “tense head” and less frequently they describe a mild, diffuse headache. Headache is almost always accompanied by daytime drowsiness.
Headache is also a common symptom in patients with insomnia, caused by chronic pain syndromes such as fibromyalgia, neuromuscular diseases, as well as in patients with cardiovascular diseases, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression or anxiety disorders that cause insomnia and secondary daytime sleepiness.
How common is sleep apnea?
They are much more common than we thought a few years ago. The latest statistics from the USA, Denmark, Australia and Italy show that 8.5% to 24% of men, between 30 and 60 years old, have a pathological number of apneas. The corresponding percentages in women aged 30 to 60 are 6% to 9%. Of these, the heaviest forms, 2% to 4%, experience drowsiness during the day.
Sleep apnea and glaucoma
People who suffer from sleep apnea are at higher risk of developing glaucoma and should have regular eye exams, according to a new study. The study involved 1,012 patients over the age of 40 and 6,072 healthy peers, and was published in the journal Ophthalmology, published by the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
The study from Taipei Medical University in Taiwan showed that sleep apnea sufferers had a 67% increased risk of developing the most common form of glaucoma (open-angle glaucoma) five years after being diagnosed with sleep apnea.
Researchers believe that sleep apnea reduces the amount of oxygen reaching the eyes and therefore increases the risk of glaucoma. “We hope our findings encourage doctors to inform patients with obstructive sleep apnea about the possibility of glaucoma so they can be screened and treated appropriately,” the researchers note in their statement.
Don’t sleep with the light on
Melancholy can cause artificial light during sleep. In fact, continuous exposure to continuous light at night can cause depression.
On the other hand, avoiding light alleviates depressive symptoms. The experiments were carried out on rats and the researchers divided them into two groups. The group whose room was lit 24 hours a day showed more external symptoms of depression, compared to the other group who slept in a dark room and had a normal day and night cycle.
The effect of artificial light on health is important for people who work night shifts and for children and adults who watch television late at night, disrupting the normal light-dark cycle.
Test for snoring at home
A simple, cost-effective and child- and adult-friendly way to investigate snoring is the medical method of digital breath sound analysis at home. The exam SNORING CHECK It is completely simple and painless and is performed in your space while you sleep. It accurately investigates the type of snoring, while establishing whether sleep apnea is present and to what extent, giving the doctor all the information necessary to recommend appropriate treatment.
The SNORE CHECK service in collaboration with the At home from Affidea, with its specialized nursing staff, undertake to deliver and receive the examination equipment at the examinee’s location and provide information on its use. Once the check-up is done, the following day, according to the relevant planning, the department team collects your equipment and delivers it to the doctor. The doctor will analyze the results of recording your breathing during sleep and treat your problem.
Snore Check: Digital breath analysis at a special price
The Affidea Group of diagnostic centers highlights the importance of prevention and early diagnosis, and offers the Snore Check exam at a preferential price. The action is valid for all appointments that will be scheduled until August 31, 2024.
For more information and appointments you can call every day, Monday to Friday from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm and Saturday from 7:30 am to 3:00 pm, at 210 67 70 700.