It's time for you to change someone's life, even save it.
Perhaps you are the one who needs the change. Maybe it's time for your father, your brother, your best friend.
Lack of good sleep can destroy a person. Snoring is just a symptom and it is so easily passed off as something that is just irritating to others. Being tired all the time can be passed off as just getting older. Loss of focus, lack of ambition even for small activities, sadness and depression, gaining weight, loss of sexual interest...all of it demands a look at sleep, or lack thereof, as a source.
It is the holiday season. It's time to become informed. It's time to schedule a sleep study. It's time to rededicate to using the CPAP. It's time to wake up to not sleeping well.
I have severe sleep apnea.
A couple of nights ago, I sat down to watch the first episode of the new television show "Men Of A Certain Age." One of the three main characters, Owen, is played by Andre Braugher. As I watched the full version of the clip below, I said aloud, "He's not using his CPAP." The thing stands out in the foreground. I called him out about it before his TV wife did.
This diary is about the first 27 seconds:
What's missing in the clip is the opening shot of him snoring and, yes, missing a breath. What's also missing is his next line which is, "I'm not wearing that thing."
I sympathize. He has the mask type. The mask was too much for me to bear; my latent claustrophobia rebelled at having that firm hand on my face. I use the much smaller nasal style. Humidified air is blown into my nose whenever I sleep and, after a short adjustment period, I'm really serious about making sure I use it whenever I sleep. The change in my life has been...life changing.
Does this look familiar?
And what it's about:
http://www.medicinenet.com/...
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
From wikipedia:
It is estimated[citation needed] that 20 million Americans are affected by sleep apnea. That would represent more than 6.5%, or nearly 1 in 15 Americans, making sleep apnea as prevalent as asthma or diabetes. It is also estimated that 85-90 percent of individuals affected are undiagnosed and untreated.[3] The Wisconsin Sleep Cohort Study found that, among the middle-aged, nine percent of women and 24 percent of men had sleep apnea.[4]
The costs of untreated sleep apnea reach further than just health issues. It is estimated that the average untreated sleep apnea patient's health care costs $1,336 more than an individual without sleep apnea. If approximations are correct, 17 million untreated individuals account for $22,712 million,or almost 23 billion in health care costs.[5]
Wait. How many people? What percentage undiagnosed and untreated? How much money?
But let's talk about you, or the person you're thinking of right now.
Can you imagine being 10% more awake? Can you imagine having 10% more awareness of what's around you? Can you imagine having your brain work 10% faster, more efficiently, more creatively? Can you just imagine being in a 10% better mood?
Can you imagine not having your brain sending signals to the rest of your body, especially your heart, that you're dieing in your sleep? (Help me, help me, help me...)
I pulled that 10% out of the air; I have no idea beyond knowing that my life has changed since February, when I started my CPAP therapy. I wish I'd been treating my apnea long ago. Perhaps, just perhaps, my apnea contributed to my heart going into V-Tach a couple of years ago; no one can say for certain. I've made friends with my implanted defibrillator but the experience scared me and everyone around me.
It's the holiday season. It's the time when families and friends gather. It's time to give a great gift. Tell someone that they need to have their snoring checked out. Admit to your loved ones that you think you have a problem.
By the way, there are other therapies for sleep disorders like sleep apnea. CPAP works for me.
And I hereby give you, if you haven't treated your sleep apnea, a "pass" for not losing weight and not exercising. You're tired. Fix your sleep and then fix the rest. I ride a bike:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
I can make it up the hill from my bus stop to my house in third gear now. F*****g A, that feels good at 51.