Respiratory Diagnosis

There are a number of conditions that could be affecting your ability to breathe properly, either while you’re asleep or awake. For example, if you have obesity hypoventilation syndrome (OHS), being overweight places a lot of pressure on the muscles around your lower airway, making it difficult for you to take in enough air. If you have a chest wall disorder, the muscles and nerves used during breathing are affected, making it difficult to breathe properly on your own.

Generally, if your inability to breathe properly is part of a broader condition, then you will be diagnosed as part of the broader condition. Your doctor or care provider will determine the best diagnosis method for your condition and let you know the next steps to getting treated. Learn more about other respiratory conditions such as COPD, NMD, or CSR that affect your ability to breathe or about respiratory conditions in children.

Sleep studies

If your inability to breathe at night is causing you to have apnoea (you stop breathing while you’re asleep), your care provider might request that you get a sleep study. Sleep studies are used to assess whether or not you have sleep apnoea, and if so, how severe it is. You can do a sleep study in a sleep clinic or in the comfort of your own home. Read more about Sleep studies.

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Sleep Revitalizes your Mind, Body, & Heart

The body goes under many transformations, while it is in the state of rest during sleep. There are many essential functions that take place in the body such as tissue repair, memory and energy restoration, release of essential hormones, muscle relaxation, and others. While you are asleep, the brain releases indispensable hormones that promote tissue growth. This process helps your body rejuvenate from the daily hustle bustle. Moreover, tissue growth aids in the recovery from wounds or cuts. Sunita Kumar, Co-Director, Centre for Sleep Disorders, Loyola University Medical Centre, aptly remarks that during sleep the body produces more white blood cells, to fight countless bacteria and viruses¹. The heart rate also registers a dip during sleep, which according to Ms. Kumar, strengthens the heart as it is at rest with lowered activity. Moreover, a good night’s sleep also reduces the chances of getting afflicted with heart diseases.

Good Sleep = Sharp Memory

Sleep is a time, when becomes sharp and strong. Sleep quantity and quality play a fundamental role in determining what one remembers and what one doesnt. Therefore, development of long-term memory (LTM) from short-term memory (STM) happens during sleep. Scientific researches state that the brain follows a different mechanism for storing memories through the hippocampus and neo-cortex areas. Hippocampus helps you to remember your life experiences (childhood memories), while the neo-cortex is responsible for remembering the concepts you learn (name of a color). Communications and sync between the two, helps in learning new data and updating old ones.

Sleep Steers Hormonal Hunger

Sleep not only affects your energy levels and mental functions, but also regulates your body weight. Improper sleep is related to the increasing cases of obesity, worldwide². Many hormones which regulate the feeling of hunger (ghrelin) and signal the feeling of being full (leptin), are all influenced by the quality of your sleep. Leptin: This is also known as satiety hormone, which is produced by the fat cells of the body. It prevents overeating by sending signals to the brain that the body does not require more food, as there is enough to fuel the body. Ghrelin: This hunger hormone is produced in the gastrointestinal tract, which signifies the body that there is need for food. This hormone rises in the body, when you feel hungry and decreases when you have consumed some food. Studies show that people who have disrupted patterns of sleep - have larger appetite, because of higher ghrelin secretion and lowered secretion of leptin. This imbalance in the secretion of these hormones is a result of improper sleep patterns³.

Now that we have talked about why sleep is essential, in the next section - we will be discussing in detail some of the significant parameters, that define good or bad sleep.