Hello everyone!
It has been another great week at my internship! I thought
it would be best if I ended if off by talking about sleep disorders in detail
since they are the focus of my project.
One of the sleep disorders I will be focusing my research on
is sleep apnea. It is a very common but often undiagnosed disorder in which the
patient experiences pauses in breathing while he is sleeping. Breathing pauses
can be as short as a few seconds to as long as a few minutes. These pauses
disrupt sleep and as a result, the patient is tired throughout the day.
There are two types of sleep apnea: obstructive sleep apnea
(OSA) and central sleep apnea.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the more common one. It
occurs when the airway becomes blocked or collapses. The tissues in the throat
can block the upper airway, as shown in the image below. This results in the breathing
pauses. When this happens, the oxygen levels in the body decrease and the
patient wakes up gasping. During this time, the patient transitions from deep
sleep to light sleep. Additionally, breathing through a blocked airway can
cause snoring.
The less common type of sleep apnea is central sleep apnea.
This occurs when the part of the brain responsible for breathing does not send
the correct signals to the breathing muscles. This is different from OSA
because in central sleep apnea, the patient makes no effort to breathe for
short periods of time.
Other sleep disorders include narcolepsy and insomnia. A
person with narcolepsy tends to involuntarily fall asleep during normal
activities. Additionally, characteristics of sleep can occur during
wakefulness. During episodes, patients feel separated from reality. Between episodes,
they are healthy.
Insomnia is another sleep disorder that is characterized by persistent
difficulties falling asleep or staying asleep. This can cause problems with
memory and concentration. It can be caused by psychological issues such as
stress or depression.
It’s been two exciting weeks and I can’t wait to learn more
about the effects of sleep disorders on cognitive abilities during the rest of my
time at PNPI!
~Shubhangi
Hi Shubhangi, this is so interesting! Sleep disorders are truly very fascinating! I was wondering do certain sleep disorders occur in a specific stage of the sleep cycle? For example, is it more common to experience sleep apnea during a certain stage?
ReplyDeleteThat is a great question! I was exactly going to address that in upcoming posts, but I can briefly talk about it now. Sleep apnea can occur in almost any stage, but when it occurs during REM sleep, it is the worst. There are some patients who only experience sleep apnea during REM sleep. This is because during REM, muscle tone decreases in the upper airway, which causes the airway to decrease in size. The other two, narcolepsy and insomnia just occur, regardless of the stage.
ReplyDeleteHello Shubhangi I am wondering why do patients with narcolepsy experience a shift in their reality? What part(s) of the brain are affected from this condition that causes the individual to have these sensations? Overall I love your blogs they were all interesting and well organized
ReplyDeleteOne of the characteristic signs many narcoleptic patients have is are dream-like hallucinations right before falling asleep or right after waking up. These can be very vivid and frightening. These hallucinations are like the dreams that we experience during REM sleep occurring while we are in the earlier stages of sleep. Sometimes, the dreams are lifelike and hard to differentiate from reality. For this reason, they sometimes experience a shift in their reality. Great question!
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