When Shakespeare’s Prince Hamlet opined, “To sleep, perchance to dream,” in the play named for him, he summed up what is a total necessity for every human being on earth. Sleep is vital for good health and well-being, and dreams are a very important part of sleep. As a sleep apnea Noblesville clinic, here’s what we got to say about sleep.
Sleep’s many benefits
Sleep has a wealth of benefits, including benefits to your heart, mind, and even your weight. How you feel when you are awake depends on how well you sleep, as your body works while you sleep to energize your brain and maintain your physical status. Ongoing sleeping problems raise the risk of serious chronic health problems. During sleep, your brain is developing new pathways for learning and remembering information.
Sleep deficiency and your brain
Getting restful sleep improves one’s ability to learn the following day. Sleep deficiency alters the activity in certain parts of the brain. When you are sleep deficient, your behavior suffers, making you:
- Have difficulty making decisions
- Experience trouble solving problems
- Have a tough time controlling your emotions and behavior
- Do not cope well with change
- Have a tendency toward depression
- May experience suicidal ideation
- Are prone to risk-taking behaviors
- Do not get along well with others
- Have difficulty paying attention
- Feel chronically stressed out
Sleep deficiency and your health
Your physical health suffers too. With some of the physical ramifications of sleep deprivation being that you:
- Do not heal as fast from wounds
- Are not as capable of your body’s making repairs to your heart and blood vessels
- Tend to develop obesity due to hormonal imbalances
- Increases your blood sugar level, putting you at risk for diabetes
- Impairs your immune system
Without REM sleep, which is where dreams occur, we have difficulty learning complex tasks. REM sleep is where spatial and procedural memory consolidation takes place. In normal people, REM sleep occurs in 90-120 minute cycles all through the night.
Sleep apnea interferes with REM sleep
Sleep apnea disrupts the creation of new spatial memories. New spatial memories help us remember things like where we parked the car, left our keys, and how to navigate our environment. The sleep apnea abnormal pauses in breathing or episodes of shallow breathing during sleep interfere with REM sleep. In turn, sleep apnea impairs spatial memory.
Treatment from a Sleep Apnea Noblesville dentist
In some mild cases of sleep apnea, losing weight, taking an antihistamine or giving up smoking can cure the problem. With more severe sleep apnea, doctors usually recommend a CPAP machine that pushes air into the nostrils through a mask that fits over the head. Many people find it hard to get used to the mask and the noise the CPAP machine makes while they are trying to sleep.
In this case, a dental appliance is quite often a wonderful answer to the problem of snoring and mild to moderate sleep apnea. This CPAP alternative dental appliance is a precision oral appliance that is placed over both the lower and the upper teeth.
Deldar Dental, serving Noblesville, Fishers, Carmel, Indianapolis, and Westfield, can fit you with a MicroO2™ customized oral appliance that can help you reduce the mental, behavioral, and physical effects of sleeping problems from sleep apnea. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.
