Vishnupriya
Why It Happens
The muscles in the back of the throat support the back of the roof of the mouth (the soft palate), the triangular piece of tissue hanging from the soft palate (the uvula), the tonsils, the side walls of the throat, and the tongue. When these muscles collapse too much, those tissues can fall back into the throat, partially or completely blocking the normal flow of air in your airway. When the airway is blocked you may start to snore, which is why this symptom is common in OSA. (Not everyone who snores has sleep apnea.)
When your brain senses that you aren’t getting enough oxygen, it signals your body to wake up enough so that you can reopen your airway, and you may gasp for air. Simply put, having obstructive sleep apnea means that not enough air can get into the lungs at night, and your brain wakes you up to breathe, says Robson Capasso, MD, chief of sleep surgery and a professor of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine in California.
Risk Factors for Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Research indicates that cases of obstructive sleep apnea have risen significantly in the last two decades. This is likely due to two main factors: Obesity (one of the most common risk factors for OSA) has increased dramatically; and there is more awareness about sleep apnea among doctors and the public at large, so more people are being screened and diagnosed, says James Rowley, MD, a pulmonologist and program director of the Sleep Medicine Fellowship at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
Diagnosis and Treatment
Obstructive sleep apnea can be treated with a device to keep your airway open, such as a machine that pushes air pressure into your lungs through a mask that fits over your nose and mouth while you sleep, called continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP).
Other OSA treatment options include other breathing machines, mouthpieces designed to keep your jaw forward and keep your airway open, or surgery (in more severe cases) to remove tonsils or other tissue that could cause airway obstruction or move your jaw to open up your airway.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also recently approved Zepbound (tirzepatide) as the first prescription medication specifically for adults with moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and obesity.
Your doctor may also advise you to lose weight and to avoid sleeping on your back, to prevent gravity from further pushing your tongue, tonsils, and other soft tissues in your throat into your airway.
