Sleep Doctor Dozes And Misses Flight to Sleep Meeting
April 30, 2011
Incredibly, this actually happened to me.
I had a 6AM flight this morning out of La Guardia Airport to fly to Minneapolis for a one day sleep apnea related conference. I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, so I sat down to read some sleep-related journals near the gate. I was listening for the announcements for boarding, but the next thing I know, it’s 5 minutes past my flight time! I had been dozing in and out and had completely missed the boarding announcements.
Here’s my excuse for why it happened: For some unknown reason, I did not slept well the night before last. This morning, I had to get up at 4 AM to get to the airport by 5:15. At the gate, I had positioned myself underneath a very loud TV screen with a very loud news program. On top of all this, I was reading materials about sleep while I was sleepy. Not a good move.
Fortunately, I was able to get on the next flight out and got to Minneapolis without being too late. I just got back to NY and I’m in a livery cab, typing this blog, looking forward to a good night’s sleep.
Ironic, isn’t it?
Is Insomnia Caused By Obstructive Sleep Apnea?
April 27, 2011
Common sleep medicine dogma states that chronic insomnia is a completely separate disorder from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). But just like other seemingly disparate medical conditions, there’s increasing evidence that there may be a certain degree of overlap between these two conditions. It’s been shown that anywhere from 39 to 58% of patients with OSA also have insomnia. Conversely, up to 43% of older people with chronic insomnia were found to have undiagnosed sleep apnea.
It’s been stated that chronic insomnia and sleep apnea can co-exist together, but very few studies are saying the one could cause the other. To challenge this assumption, Dr. Barry Krakow and the Sleep and Human Health Institute is looking at the provocative theory that a large percentage of people with chronic insomnia have undiagnosed breathing problems during sleep.
I wrote in my book, Sleep, Interrupted, that almost every patient that I see with chronic insomnia has significantly narrow upper airways, and one or both parents snore heavily. Most chronic insomniacs prefer not to or absolutely can’t sleep on their backs, due to the tongue taking up relatively too much space within the confines of smaller jaws. When in deep sleep, especially when on their backs, the tongue can fall back due to gravity, and because of additional muscle relaxation, causes breathing pauses and an inability to stay asleep.
It’s also not surprising that most people with sleep maintenance insomnia keep waking up at various 90-120 minute intervals, usually around the same times. This makes sense since at the end of one sleep cycle, your muscles will be most relaxed. Not sleeping deeply can lead to chronic sleep deprivation, which causes adrenaline overload and a hyperactive nervous system, which you can’t shut down when you’re ready to go to sleep. This process can explain sleep onset insomnia. One recent study showed that sleep deprivation can even cause a kind of euphoria, which can lead to poor judgement and even addictive behaviors.
Maybe this is why cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for insomnia works very well, but not for everyone. There are numerous studies and personal experiences that confirm that treating the underlying sleep-breathing problem can fix the insomnia issues.
Granted, even if only 50% of people with chronic insomnia have obstructive sleep apnea, it’s likely that another 30 to 40% will have upper airway resistance syndrome (or UARS), which is a huge topic that has been discussed elsewhere.
What do you think about my suspicion?
Ask Dr. Park: How To Clear Your Stuffy Nose (5/10/11)
April 27, 2011
In this Ask Dr. Park teleseminar, I answer your questions about how to clear your stuffy nose. Here are some topics I’ll cover:
- How to clear your stuffy nose
- The real reason why allergies can ruin your sleep
- The truth about septoplasty and what you must know before any nasal surgery
- Turbinates: The forgotten nasal structure
- Why your sinus pain and headache may not be an infection
- Do Breathe Right Strips work?
- Nasal saline irrigation: Helpful or hurtful?
- Nasal problems with CPAP
Click here to order the MP3 recording ($17)
Can Your Jaws Be Expanded Without Surgery?
April 26, 2011
Conventional dental wisdom states that the adult jaws can’t be enlarged. Recently, orthodontists have shown that you can straighten teeth in adults, but many dentists are still skeptical about claims of being able to expand the jaw without doing any type of surgery. For many years, a number of dentists have debunked these claims. Dr. Dave Singh is one such pioneer, who through the principles described in his Epigenetic Orthodontics concept, is able to show that the upper and lower jaws can be altered dramatically using his DNA appliance.
I’ve stated in the past the modern humans, due to a radical change in our diets and feeding habits, are more prone to dental crowding and upper airway narrowing. The smaller your jaws, the smaller your breathing passageways, from your nose to your throat. Widening and expanding your jaws can have a profound effect on your ability to breathe not only at night while sleeping, but also during the day when awake. So it’s not surprising that this could also help people with sleep apnea to various degrees.
If you’re interested in hearing what Dr. Singh has to say about this issue and how the DNA appliance works, please register for my teleseminar for tonight, where I will pick his brains for one full hour. He will also answer your questions at the end of the program.
Sleep Apnea Surgery Controversies
April 23, 2011
At SleepGuide.com, I responded to a post that referenced Dr. Kasey Li’s answer to a question about sleep apnea surgery. There are a number of important points that summarizes things you should consider if you’re ever going to consider sleep apnea surgery. Here’s the link to the discussion.
What’s your opinion on this debate?
Nasal Polyps And Erectile Dysfunction: How It May Link To Sleep Apnea
April 21, 2011
How Reflux Aggravates Sleep Apnea
April 19, 2011
One of the central tenets of my sleep-breathing paradigm is the connection between breathing obstruction and reflux: One can cause the other, and vice versa. I happened to be reading an article on gastrointestinal function while sleeping, and found some interesting facts about your stomach and how it behaves when you’re sleeping:
1. Gastric acid secretion is significantly increased just after bedtime, around 12 AM.
2. Stomach emptying is delayed.
3. Esophageal clearance is delayed.
4. Upper esophageal pressure is decreased.
5. Nighttime reflux is more difficult to control using medications.
Any kind of breathing obstruction can create tremendous vacuum effects in the throat, which can actively suction up your stomach juices. However, this is also actively being promoted by steps 1 through 4 above. Once acid reaches your throat, it can cause swelling in your throat. If you still have your tonsils, they can get very large, which obstructs your breathing even more. Acid also is known to desensitize your protective chemo-receptors that help to wake you up from deep to light sleep when it senses acid in your throat, so that you can swallow your stomach juices and prevent aspiration into your lungs.
We also know that it’s not only acid that’s coming up into the throat, but also bile, digestive enzymes, and even bacteria, which can all travel up into your nose, ears and sinuses, or down into your lungs, causing major inflammation. Inflammation causes more swelling, and even further obstruction to breathing.
One major reason why the standard reflux medications don’t work all the time is because they’re not designed to prevent reflux. Instead, these medicines help to lower your stomach juice pH or production, so that it’s less irritating to your throat. This is also why not eating within 3-4 hours of bedtime is so critical if you have sleep apnea.
How many of you with sleep apnea also have reflux issues. Your symptoms don’t have to be heartburn or indigestion. It can be throat clearing, post-nasal drip, coughing, hoarseness, a lump sensation, throat pain, and even tightening.
Expert Interview: Epigenetic Orthodontics with Dr. Dave Singh
April 17, 2011
Expert Interview with Dr. Dave Singh, who is the author of Epigenetic Orthodontics and inventor of the DNA appliance. We discuss:
– What is Epigenetic Orthodontics?
– How is Epigenetic Orthodontics different from conventional orthodontics?
– Sleep apnea as a craniofacial problem
– How the DNA appliance can help obstructive sleep apnea
– How is the DNA appliance different from conventional oral appliances.
Please enter your information below receive access to your free MP3 download:
Increased Cancer Rates, Alcohol, And Sleep Apnea?
April 12, 2011
Here’s an interesting study which showed that drinking more than recommended amounts of alcohol can significantly increase your risk of certain types of cancer. Eight European countries enrolled over 250,000 people prospectively over 13 years and found that drinking too much alcohol could account for nearly 45 of cancers of the mouth, voice box and throat in men and 25% of those cancers in women. The rates for liver cancer were 33% and 18%, respectively for men and women. The researchers don’t have a good explanation for why alcohol can increase your chances of cancer. One proposed mechanism is the possibility that alcohol somehow damages DNA, preventing cells from repairing itself.
I’ve written in the past about how chronic reflux in the throat due to untreated obstructive sleep apnea can lead to an increased risk for pre-cancerous changes in the throat, as well as increasing inflammation in the nose and lungs. Chronic low-grade irritation and inflammation is a known risk factor for malignant degeneration. Other studies have shown that obesity is also an independent risk factor for cancer, particularly with breast and prostate cancers. It’s a given that if you’re overweight, you’ll have a higher chance of having obstructive sleep apnea. Multiple breathing pauses while sleeping can cause vacuum forces that literally suction up your stomach juices into your throat. Stomach juices not only include acid, but also bile, digestive enzymes, and even bacteria.
Not sleeping effectively due to breathing pauses can prevent adequate blood supply to the reproductive and digestive organs, as well the the peripheral organs such as the skin. Chronic hypoxia is a known aggravator of oxidative stress, which is one of the proposed mechanisms cancer generation. Chronic hypoxia and chronic inflammation are double whammies in cancer research.
I realize that this is not your typical, genetics-molecular biology explanation for cancer development, but if you look at it from a broader perspective, it does have some merit which deserves further investigation. Maybe cancer researchers should place sleep apnea as an additional risk factor for cancer.
What do you think about my hypothesis?
Higher Pregnancy Complications In Obese Women
April 8, 2011
A new study published this week in the Journal Human Reproduction found that obese pregnant women have a much higher chance of miscarriage or suffering from their child dying before the first birthday. Not too surprisingly, pre-eclampsia was the most common reason for these obesity-related deaths. Gestational diabetes increased as well.
We know that any significant weight gain can lead to obstructive sleep apnea. Then why is it that pregnant women don’t develop sleep apnea? One possible reason why this may not happen as often is that progesterone increases significantly during pregnancy. Progesterone is an upper airway muscle stimulant, increasing tongue muscle tone significantly. This is one way it protects against apnea-promoting effects of weight gain.
However, if you gain too much weight, or if there are other stresses in your life that hormonally diminishes the protective effects of progesterone, then you’ll have more problems breathing at night, leading to or aggravating various pregnancy complications. High blood pressure (seen in pre-eclampsia), and diabetes are more likely in people with sleep apnea.
What’s just as important is what happens after delivery: Progesterone drops, but you’re left with all that weight. By definition, your sleep quality will drop significantly. This is one mechanism that can aggravate post-partum depression. Imagine how much worse it may be if you also lose your child.
If you’re a woman and are overweight and have sleep apnea, did you suffer any miscarriages or pregnancy complications in the past?
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