Do you ever experience frequent awakening from sleep, daytime tiredness, and or morning headaches? These could be some of the signs of sleep apnoea, according to health practitioners.

To understand this condition, Dr Charles Sindabimenya, a physician nephrologist in Kigali, says this potentially serious sleep disorder is when one experiences frequent breathing stops and starts.

He says that in some cases, you can tell that one is suffering from this condition when they tend to snore loudly and feel tired, and this could be after a full night’s sleep.

Meanwhile, the most common type of sleep apnoea is obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), which affects most people and it occurs when throat muscles relax.

"This medical condition causes interrupted breathing while one is sleeping, and what makes it worse is that most people with it go undiagnosed or untreated, yet it’s a common condition that affects a good number of people,” he says.

Dr Francis Kazungu, a general practitioner in Kigali, says this condition is more likely to happen to males over the age of 50. Also, people who are overweight, pregnant women, smokers, and those with a large neck circumference or certain medical conditions such as asthma, coronary artery disease, and diabetes.

In some cases, Dr Kazungu points out, people with sleep apnoea may also experience snoring, choking, or gasping while asleep, adding that any pausing in breathing is a potential sign of the condition, therefore, he recommends seeking medical assistance in case of such.

Studies published in Mayo Clinic and Healthline show that sleep apnoea occurs in about 25 per cent of men and nearly 10 per cent of women and that it can affect people of all ages, including babies and children and particularly people over the age of 50 and those who are overweight.

Causes

Dr Sindabimenya explains that sleep apnoea is caused by a blockage of the airway, usually when the soft tissue in the rear of the throat collapses during sleep.

Since sleep apnoea is a sleeping disorder that can lead to serious health problems, such as high blood pressure and heart trouble, he says there is a need to seek medical help on time because when left untreated, it causes other health complications.

He says that there is also a possibility that the body starts to experience chronic effects when one experiences frequent apnoea.

Dr Kazungu goes on to note that data suggests an increased risk of sleep apnoea, particularly when you stop breathing roughly 30 times or more per hour. But there is likely a risk at even lower frequency rates.

For instance, he says, the blood pressure tends to go up, your heart walls thicken due to increased workload, and the structure of your heart changes.

If left untreated, sleep apnoea can cause arrhythmias and heart failure because if you have sleep apnoea, you tend to have higher blood pressure.

In fact, sleep apnoea occurs in about 50 per cent of people with heart failure or atrial fibrillation.

Treatment

Studies suggest that in mild cases of sleep apnoea, conservative treatment therapy is needed. Also, it is recommended that individuals with sleep apnoea should avoid the use of alcohol and certain sleeping pills which make the airway more likely to collapse during sleep.

Surgical procedures may also help people with sleep apnoea and others who snore but don’t have the condition.

Dr Sindabimenya says working on lifestyle changes is important as this may help ease some symptoms. For instance, he suggests losing weight as obesity is a major risk factor for sleep apnoea.

He says that one can lower the number of apnoea episodes they have each night by maintaining a healthy weight, adding that staying away from alcohol is also important. This is so because alcohol causes problems with how the brain works, and also increases the frequency and number of sleep apnoea episodes that occur each night.

He adds that one shouldn’t forget physical exercise as it can help improve sleep apnoea even without weight loss.