There is a misconception that sleep apnea only impacts older, overweight men. We also know that obstructive sleep apnea is grossly under diagnosed and treated. Obstructive sleep apnea, or OSA, can affect any age, any size and any gender. Babies can even have sleep disordered breathing. Children will show signs of sleep disordered breathing as: having night terrors, behavioral issues, prolonged bed wetting, snoring, grinding/clenching at night, have chronic congestion or other signs. Adults will often show signs in the mouth. They might have bad breath, their tongue hangs low, or they get frequent cavities not related to sugar consumption. These individuals might have a smaller chin that is set back. They might mouth breath, snore, grind/clench or have pain in the head and neck. These folks are often very tired during the day. Those who have a level of sleep apnea will experience microarousals, or brief awakenings. This might look like someone waking up to pee, rolling around in their sleep, gasping for air, or grinding/clenching. The severity of sleep apnea is determined by how often breathing is interrupted during sleep, and is measured by the apnea-hypopnea index. These sleep apnea events occur 5-15 times in an hour in mild OSA, 15-30 times in moderate and more than 30 times in severe OSA. This means someone who has severe OSA is “waking up” more than 30 times in an hour! There is a reason this person is waking up feeling like they got little to no sleep, it is because they didn’t. Their body was in a constant state of fight or flight. They hardly get any good, restorative, deep sleep. Being tired is one thing, but OSA can be a risk factor for many other health concerns such as: high blood pressure, type II diabetes, liver issues, among others.

So, what can you do about it? One option is a CPAP machine. These can be bulky, annoying to transport/travel with and compliance is generally low with these machines. There are surgeries that can help with some of the underlying causes. There are appliances that you can wear at night that help position the tongue in the correct resting posture and finally there is myofunctional therapy. This is where we can help. As Myofunctional Therapists, we assess the function of the oral/facial muscles and we can uncover where there is dysfunction. We can build strength in the muscles of the mouth to help get the tongue resting in the proper position. Finally, we build proper habits to help reduce these microarousals. We can help you to breath and sleep better and in return FEEL BETTER!