Every night, more than 54 million Americans living with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) stop breathing, exposing themselves to serious, long-term health risks. When untreated, OSA can lead to stroke, high blood pressure and heart disease. Unfortunately, the majority of people with OSA remain undiagnosed.
A new national survey, conducted by Apnimed, revealed that OSA has major personal, social, and mental health effects, too. For example, two thirds of respondents say they’re unable to be fully present with loved ones and nearly 50% say they don’t share a bed with their partner.
And 80% of OSA patients are undiagnosed – they don’t know they have it, or are untreated.
Today, there are many APPS available to measure your own sleep, and they can be very helpful in encouraging you to get a diagnosis.
Learn the long-term effects of sleep apnea in this interview with Seema Khosla, MD, Medical Director of the North Dakota Center for Sleep. She is active within the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and hosts the AASM Talking Sleep podcast which has had over 340,000 downloads thus far. She was awarded the AASM Excellence in Education award in 2022.
Joining us also is Miranda Chappel-Farley, PhD, an obstructive sleep apnea patient since childhood, and now a sleep medicine researcher.