Always Tired? Getting the Rest You Need is Essential to Maintaining Good Health

Sufficient sleep is fundamental to your overall health. You need a few specific things: air, water, food – and sleep. Your brain and body must have the time they require to re-boot every single day.

Your body, especially your heart, gathers stress as the day goes on. When you rest at night, it signals your heart to slow down and decompress, relieving the stresses it gathered. Time is needed for your body to recoup and collect the energy required to tackle another day. In sleep, your body and brain revitalize themselves. You experience a decline in blood pressure, and the pace of age-related diseases slows down. You can curb illnesses such as obesity, hypertension, memory loss, and diabetes with the healing power of sleep.

On the other hand, a lack of sleep can instead burden your heart by placing excessive strain and stress on the muscle. Strokes, heart attacks, cardiovascular disease and, in severe circumstances, even death have all been connected to sleep disorders.

Snoring Is More Than a Simple Annoyance

Snoring is often a pre-cursor to a more critical health concern you may have heard of, called obstructive sleep apnea. Those who suffer from sleep apnea experience an obstruction in their airway that gets in the way of obtaining sufficient oxygen throughout the night. Most of the time, they don’t even realize it. The need for oxygen “wakes” them up to hundreds of times a night, completely interfering with restful sleep.

The sleep apnea process can cause elevated blood pressure, which is a key risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Sleep loss can result in outcomes of serious health concerns and premature death. Even if it doesn’t extend that far, regular sleep deprivation can negatively affect brain function, increasing stress hormones and leading to depression.

Even if you have only mild sleep apnea, being fitted with an oral appliance can result in the reduction or even cessation of snoring. This could be a great gift to your partner!

Our Alternative to CPAP

The standard for sleep apnea treatment has been the CPAP device, and it remains the gold standard for moderate to severe sleep apnea. CPAP stands for Continuous Positive Air Pressure. The patient uses a machine that pumps a continuous stream of air into the patient’s nose or mouth throughout the night. Unfortunately, many people find this uncomfortable and choose to stop wearing the mask.

If you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea and can’t tolerate your CPAP, we can offer you an alternative treatment. Dr. Agrawal can custom fit you with an oral appliance such as the TAP™ (Thornton Adjustable Positioner) or Respire Blue Series™. These are small acrylic devices that fit over the upper and lower teeth similar to a mouthguard or retainer. They gently realign your tongue and jaw to open your airway and allow more air flow to the lungs as you sleep. They are easy to place and remove, easy to clean, and convenient for travel. The comfort often surprises patients, and they have an excellent success rate for sleep apnea and snoring.

Snoring and sleep apnea don’t have to fill your nights. Schedule online or give us a call today at (352) 502-4890 for a no-cost/no-obligation consultation.