|
|
|
Causes of Sleep Apnea
（in English and Chinese 中英文)
Translated By:
Joe
Hing Kwok Chu
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sleepapnea/causes.html
What Causes Sleep Apnea?
When you're awake, throat muscles help keep your airway stiff and open so
air can flow into your lungs. When you sleep, these muscles relax, which
narrows your throat.
Normally, this narrowing doesn’t prevent air from flowing into and out of
your lungs. But if you have sleep apnea, your airway can become partially or
fully blocked because:
•Your throat muscles and tongue relax more than normal.
•Your tongue and tonsils (tissue masses in the back of your mouth) are large
compared with the opening into your windpipe.
•You're overweight. The extra soft fat tissue can thicken the wall of the
windpipe. This narrows the inside of the windpipe, which makes it harder to
keep open.
•The shape of your head and neck (bony structure) may cause a smaller airway
size in the mouth and throat area.
•The aging process limits your brain signals' ability to keep your throat
muscles stiff during sleep. Thus, your airway is more likely to narrow or
collapse.
Not enough air flows into your lungs if your airway is partially or fully
blocked during sleep. As a result, loud
snoring and a drop in your blood
oxygen level can occur.
If the oxygen drops to a dangerous level, it triggers your brain to disturb
your sleep. This helps tighten the upper airway muscles and open your
windpipe. Normal breathing then starts again, often with a loud snort or
choking sound.
Frequent drops in your blood oxygen level and reduced sleep quality can
trigger the release of
stress hormones. These hormones raise your heart rate
and increase your risk for
high blood pressure,
heart attack, stroke, and
arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats). The hormones also can raise your risk
for, or worsen, heart failure.
Untreated sleep apnea also can lead to changes in how your body uses energy.
These changes increase your risk for
obesity
and
diabetes.
導致睡眠呼吸暫停的原因：
當你醒著時，喉嚨的肌肉，有助於保持呼吸道僵硬和開放，使空氣可以進入你的肺部。當你睡覺時，這些肌肉放鬆，使到你的喉嚨縮小。
通常情況下，這種縮小程度並不能防止流入和進出肺部的空氣。但是，如果你有睡眠呼吸暫停，可以成為你的呼吸道部分或完全阻塞，因為：
•你的喉嚨放鬆肌肉和舌頭比正常多。
•你的舌頭和扁桃體（嘴後邊的組織）比你的的氣管比較大。
•你的體重超重。額外的柔軟的脂肪組織，可加厚牆壁的氣管。這縮小氣管的內部，這使得它很難保持開放。
•你的頭部和頸部（骨結構）的形狀可能會導致口腔和咽喉區一個較小的氣道大小。
•年齡老化進程會限制你的大腦信號的能力，在睡眠過程中保持你的喉嚨肌肉緊張。因此，你的呼吸道更容易縮小或折疊。
沒有足夠的空氣流量進入你的肺部，如果你的氣道在睡眠過程中部分或完全阻塞。這能導致大聲打鼾和血中的氧氣下降。
如果氧氣下降到危險的程度，它會觸發你的大腦去打擾你的睡眠。這有助於上氣道肌肉擰緊，並打開您的氣管。正常呼吸，然後再次啟動時，往往帶有很大的呼嚕聲或嗆聲。
經常滴在你的血液中氧氣含量，降低睡眠質量，可以觸發應激激素的釋放。這些激素會提高你的心率，血壓高，心臟病發作，中風，心律失常（心跳不規則）增加你的風險。激素還可以提高你的風險，或惡化，心臟衰竭。
未經治療的睡眠呼吸暫停，也可以導致你的身體如何使用能源的變化。這些變化增加導致肥胖和糖尿病的機率。
Search this site
|