This post kind of goes with my “Working out in Pain”
post.
What is sleep apnea?
Here is a short explanation I found online:
Sleep apnea
(AP-ne-ah) is a common disorder in which you have one or more pauses in
breathing or shallow breaths while you sleep.
Breathing pauses
can last from a few seconds to minutes. They may occur 30 times or more an
hour. Typically, normal breathing then starts again, sometimes with a loud
snort or choking sound.
Sleep apnea
usually is a chronic (ongoing) condition that disrupts your sleep. When your
breathing pauses or becomes shallow, you’ll often move out of deep sleep and
into light sleep.
As a result, the
quality of your sleep is poor, which makes you tired during the day. Sleep
apnea is a leading cause of excessive daytime sleepiness.
Sleep apnea
often goes undiagnosed. Doctors usually can't detect the condition during
routine office visits. Also, no blood test can help diagnose the condition.
Most people who
have sleep apnea don't know they have it because it only occurs during sleep. A
family member or bed partner might be the first to notice signs of sleep apnea.
I have sleep apnea and until I was diagnosed a few years ago,
working out was a real challenge. I
finally asked my doctor about it because my wife told me that I would often
stop breathing when I was sleeping.
Sleep has many benefits for our minds and body. Basically when you sleep your body heals
itself. This is in contrast to when you work
out. When you work out you are putting stress
on the muscles with results in some break down of the muscle in your body. When you sleep your body (and the muscles)
repair themselves and can get stronger.
With sleep apnea you are not getting the best results you can from
working out as your body cannot properly/fully repair. I suspect this is why I used to have so many
pains from working out. Yes, massage
therapy helped me with most of them but I suspect that much of it is due to my
apnea. One day, before I was diagnosed
with sleep apnea, I was working out and my sons looks at the DVD and looks at
me. He then says something along the
lines of “You’ve been doing this for a long time. How come you don’t look like the people on
the video?” I actually had no response
but I was thinking “I wish I knew”.
Once I got a CPAP machine (aka Vader mask) I immediately
noticed improvements in my body from exercising. I use my CPAP every night. It makes a huge difference in how I feel.
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