The effect of exercise on obstructive sleep apnea - Research Paper Example

The Effect Of Exercise On Obstructive Sleep Apnea The Effect Of Exercise On Obstructive Sleep Apnea Overview The number of people suffering from sleep disorders is increasing day by day. One of the most commonly diagnosed sleep disorders is Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). An individual is said to be suffering from this sleep order when he/she experiences blockage of the upper airway component. One method used to diagnose OSA is through the calculation of AHI (apnea-hypopnea). An individual is said to be experiencing OSA if he/she is experiencing an AHI which is higher than 15 or more than 5 along with issues such as insomnia and awakenings with a choking sensation (Vanhecke, 2008, p.746). Classification An individual suffering from OSA might be experiencing mild, moderate or severe episodes of OSA.

OSA is recognized as mild in nature if an individual experiences between 5 to 15 drops in upward airways for every one hours of sleep. OSA is said to be Moderate in nature when this count increases to 15 to 30 drops and the severity of OSA is said to be Severe when these counts exceed 30 drops per hour of sleep. Diagnosis Diagnosis of OSA is conducted through clinical assessments and a test recognized as polysomnography which measures the events of breathing issues experienced by an individual.

Individuals suffering from this disorder experience symptoms such as excessive events of sleepiness. Individuals suffering from this disorder even experience elevated body mass index along with increased circumference of the neck (Alameri, 201, p.146). Prevalence Franklin et al. states that around two to five percent of the general population experience either OSA or central sleep apnea, these disorders are on a rise and this rise had motivated researchers to create over 400 studies regarding these disorders in a time frame of five or more years (Vanhecke, 2008, p.745). Complications Several complications are associated with OSA, these complications include excessive feeling of sleepiness during daytime session and it can even result in causing death as it negatively impacts an individual’s blood circulation and cardiac operations (Sengul, 2011, p.50). Treatments There are various methods through which the disorder of OSA can be treated and all these methods have strengths and weaknesses.

One such method is CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure), in this method a mechanical tool is utilized to help breath a person suffering from OSA during sleep (Lam, 2007, p.355). The purpose of this method is to increase the pressure of air in the throat region of an individual in order to ensure that collapse of airway does not take place while an individual breaths during sleep. This method is even considered quite inexpensive in comparison to other methods, but the issue with this method is that this method has proven to be quite uncomfortable and several individuals have stopped using this method.

Patients who deny using the method of CPAP to solve the issue of OSA may have to undergo surgery and surgery have to be customized from patient to patient. When individuals experiencing OSA undergo surgery, corrections to the pathway of nasal are conducted and other surgeries that help in the betterment of passage of air inside and outside nasal regions are considered useful. The weakness of this measure is that this measure can have life threatening consequences as in this measure pain relievers are administered and these drugs remain in an individual’s system even after the surgery and may cause irregularities in breathing.

Physical Activity and OSA Several researches have asserted that OSA can be treated with the assistance of different exercises; researchers have found that exercising independent of any other treatment measures is quite helpful for OSA patients and exercise along with CPAP treatment has even proven to be favorable for OSA patients (Ucok, 2009, p.31). Truksinas et al. conducted a research in order to analyze the impact of exercise program of two months along with CPAP treatment on OSA patients (Truksinas, 2012, p.727). Two studies were conducted in one of the studies patients were only subjected to CAPA treatment and in the other study patients were subjected CAPA along with exercise programs.

Both treatments proved to be beneficial, but better results were achieved in which both CAPA and exercise program were implemented. Kline et al. conducted a research to measure the impact of 12 week exercise training session on individuals suffering from OSA (Kline, 2012, p.1635). In this research, exercise was used without any other treatment programs such as CAPA. Through their research they figured out that stretching exercise over a time period of 12 weeks led to reduction in the rate of AHI and betterment of index of oxygen desaturation was even experienced.

They even witnessed that due to these exercise individuals sleeping habits even enhanced. References Ackel-D'Elia, C., da, S. A. C., Silva, R. S., Truksinas, E., Sousa, B. S., Tufik, S., de, M. M. T., . Bittencourt, L. R. (January 01, 2012). Effects of exercise training associated with continuous positive airway pressure treatment in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. Sleep & Breathing = Schlaf & Atmung, 16, 3, 723-35. Alameri, H., Al-Kabab, Y., & BaHammam, A. (January 01, 2010).

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Randomised study of three non-surgical treatments in mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnoea. Thorax, 62, 4, 354-9. Sengul, Y. S., Ozalevli, S., Oztura, I., Itil, O., & Baklan, B. (January 01, 2011). The effect of exercise on obstructive sleep apnea: a randomized and controlled trial. Sleep and Breathing, 15, 1, 49-56. Ucok, K., Aycicek, A., Sezer, M., Genc, A., Akkaya, M., Caglar, V., Fidan, F., . Unlu, M. (January 01, 2009). Aerobic and anaerobic exercise capacities in obstructive sleep apnea and associations with subcutaneous fat distributions.

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