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Imagine a road. Occasionally, works in progress prevent the passage of cars, in an alternating one-way. So you stand still, waiting for the green light. In this phase the engine stops. Something similar happens to sufferers obstructive sleep apnea defined with the initials Osa. In this case, there is partial or total obstruction along the anatomical pathways of the breath, at the top. Not bad will be said. But is not so.
This condition may underlie daytime sleepiness, fatigue, attention and memory deficits, and is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular, neurological and metabolic diseases.
In the long term, the risk of stroke, arterial hypertension, coronary artery disease and arrhythmias, diabetes, increases for those who suffer from it. Identifying the framework in time and taking the appropriate countermeasures is therefore essential. Here are some tips.
We listen to the partner who snores
Whoever snores, you know, disturbs. But in some way the “ron-ron” must also be considered as a health problem, especially if it is very intense. Do you think that the main symptom of obstructive sleep apnea is certainly snoring, almost always very intense and, due to apnea, intermittent, daytime sleepiness, insomnia especially linked to early awakenings and the difficulty of returning to sleep, fatigue and difficulty concentrating, nocturia (the tendency to get up at night due to urge to urinate).
Among the causes, on the other hand, certainly obesity and overweight, but also some of an anatomical nature: for example, a small jaw, very abundant palates or a large tongue can help reduce the pharyngeal air space and obstruct the upper airways, facilitating apneas. Even the intake of alcohol in the evening can favor the onset of obstructive apneas, while the tonsils or adenoids can be the cause in pediatric age.
“Osa – explains Giuseppe Insalaco, researcher at the CNR / IRIB of Palermo – is a disease that has a serious impact on the quality of life of those who suffer from it and too often the diagnosis of the disease is delayed.
Obtaining a correct diagnosis, followed by optimal monitoring of nocturnal respiratory events and effective therapy, is a necessary condition to significantly affect the health-related quality of life, improving neurocognitive functions and the ability to cope with daily and work activities. and couple. Surely what can be recommended to almost all subjects is a correct lifestyle and physical activity which, even if they do not solve the problem, help to improve it “.
It is important to arrive early
OSA has a major impact on the quality of life of sufferers and their families. Unfortunately, the patients, probably due to the lack of local and specialized structures, encounter numerous difficulties in reaching a certain diagnosis after long months of waiting.
“Very often – recalls Luca Roberti, president of the Associazione Apnoici Italiani APS (AAI) – patients arrive at a diagnosis and the consequent therapeutic choice in old age, when the disease is now chronic and numerous comorbidities such as drug hypertension have emerged. resistant, type 2 diabetes and heart problems.
However, if properly trained, general practitioners and pediatricians who manage the population on the national territory, can become important epidemiological sentinels, identifying potential cases of patients at risk to be referred to multi-disciplinary territorial specialist centers.
A strong synergistic action is needed between political and institutional decision makers, aimed at increasing the awareness that this pathology is a social disease; it is necessary to include the pathology in the Essential Assistance Levels (LEA) and in the National Chronicity Plan (PNC); it is necessary to activate diagnostic and therapeutic paths on the national territory, eliminate inequalities between regions, improve the quality of life of all people affected by this pathology “.
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