Sleep apnoea and pauses in breathing
Pauses or interruptions in breathing, also known as sleep apnoea, is due to the weakening of the throat and upper airway muscles. What happens when the muscles are weakened is that they are not able to stay open, but collapse and block the airway.
Sleep apnoea can lead to several serious illnesses. Research shows a link with elevated blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes and depression. There is also a correlation between sleep apnoea and road accidents.
To count as sleep apnoea, the interruption of breathing in adults should last for at least 10 seconds. In a person with severe breathing interruptions, apnoea can occur up to 600 times in one night.
Usually, it is not you who discovers that you have sleep apnoea. It is probably a partner or a loved one who has noticed that you have breathing problems. It may also be that you have sought medical attention due to, for example, a dry mouth, daytime fatigue, headache, restless sleep or mood swings. It is not uncommon that you feel acid reflux, wake up for an unknown reason, get up to urinate during the night or wake up in the morning with a sore throat.
Read more about the symptoms of a hiatus hernia.
Causes of sleep apnoea
The upper airways and throat consist of muscles and cartilage. Sleep apnoea is often caused by a weakened musculature (the ‘constrictors’) in the upper airway, which causes the muscles during sleep to fall in on themselves, ‘collapse’ and block the free airway.
Behind the uvula you have the soft palate. The soft palate is a muscle that seals up against the nose when we swallow so that food or drink goes down the oesophagus instead of up the nose. When we sleep, our muscles relax – and this can sometimes include the soft palate muscle.
Any snoring that is experienced is caused by a weakened soft palate that relaxes too much and vibrates in the flow of air when breathing in. If the tongue’s musculature is also weakened, the tongue falls back and increases the pressure on the upper airway and blocks it, leading to a pause in breathing.
The symptoms can be aggravated, for example, if you have enlarged tonsils, nasal polyps, drink too much alcohol or are overweight. The body reacts in several ways during a pause in breathing.
It produces more adrenaline, your pulse and blood pressure increase, while blood oxygenation becomes lower. The body’s response to this can give you symptoms such as daytime fatigue, headaches and you may feel more easily irritated.
“I have not had any sleep apnoea for a long time”
Eva suffered from acid reflux (LPR), and Roland snored and had sleep apnoea. It didn’t take many weeks before Roland began to notice the results.
I snore markedly less and I have not had any sleep apnoea for a long time, says Roland, relieved to have recovered his nights’ sleep. Read Eva’s and Roland’s story
Treatment of sleep apnoea
It is important to check the cause of the interruption in breathing. If you have frequent breathing breaks lasting longer than 10 seconds you should always see a doctor. While waiting for your appointment and possible diagnosis, you can start training with the IQoro.
The IQoro neurosmucular training device strengthens the weakened throat and upper airway muscles, which are a common cause of sleep apnoea. The only thing you need to do is 90 seconds of training per day.
“I used it to help with sleep apnoea, which was causing heart palpitations, and after six months use, it seems to have really helped. I rarely get either now. Simple to use, easy to use, it’s now part of my daily routine.”
Gary B, verified customer.
Night time snore guard
In mild to moderate sleep apnoea, a night time snore guard is a common treatment option. It is fitted at a dentist. The purpose of the snore guard is to move the lower jaw and thus create an underbite that pulls out the position of the tongue and makes it not fall back and clog the airways.
Creating an intentional underbite that lasts for several hours at a time can lead to lasting issues with an altered bite profile. The changes occur slowly and should be followed up by your dentist.
CPAP
A regular night time treatment of medium to severe sleep apnoea is a CPAP machine that helps you keep your airways open. Some find the device and mask unpleasant, plus the loud noise made by the unit can make it difficult to sleep, while other people are very satisfied with the solution.
Even if the treatment method for your sleep apnoea works well, it does not strengthen your musculature, but rather provides passive help while it is being used. We recommend daytime training with IQoro to strengthen the weakened musculature.
In cases where the effect of the IQoro treatment is so good that you wish to discontinue any ongoing treatment with a CPAP machine or a snore guard, this should be done in consultation with your doctor. When you have achieved the desired result, maintenance training with IQoro is required to maintain muscle strength and retain the effect achieved.
Roger stopped using his oral snoring device
Roger had tried most things to help his snoring before he began training with IQoro. Thanks to this new treatment method, effective against both swallowing problems and snoring, Roger at last solved the problem of his nightly noise.
The training is simple. I can absolutely recommend IQoro. Read Roger’s story
Pilot study of treatment of sleep apnoea with IQoro
In a Swedish pilot study ten people with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) used IQoro for three months. All participants used CPAP, which they continued to use in parallel with the training during the study.
Of the ten participants, eight were treated for severe sleep apnoea, while symptoms were classified as moderate for the other two. The participants were from eight different independent sleep institutes around Sweden.
All improved through three months of training with IQoro
All participants improved significantly during the three months, where they followed the normal training routine for IQoro of 90 seconds of training a day, divided into three sessions.
For the eight participants categorised as having “severe sleep apnoea” at the start of the study, the problems had decreased to a level where they were graded as “moderate” after the three months of training.
The eighth participant had very severe apnoea (AHI value of 59.8) before training, but had significantly fewer pauses in breathing at the end (AHI value of 35.4) although the symptoms were still within the range of severe sleep apnoea. The tenth participant had also improved their metrics during the study, but remained within the range of moderate symptoms.
The results of the study are very clear, although the data is not sufficient to be able to make more extensive statistical analyses.
IQoro gives positive results
Through the long clinical experience, reviewed and internationally published articles, pilot study and not least the positive treatment results, IQoro can already be recommended as a complement to CPAP or an oral snoring device in the treatment of sleep apnoea.
Major studies on snoring and sleep apnoea are in the planning stage. It is also hoped that this may arouse interest in others to use IQoro in similar studies in order to be able to assure the effect of IQoro in this area in the longer term and scientifically.
Reference sources
- Kjellén G, Tibbling L. Manometric oesophageal function, acid perfusion test and symptomatology in a 55-year-old general population. Clinical Physiology. 1981; 1:405-15
- Hägg M, Tibbling L, Franzén T. Esophageal dysphagia and reflux symptoms before and after oral IQoro® training. World J Gastroenterol 2015; 21(24): 7558-7562.