Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
What to know about sleep apnea
A man wears a continuous positive airway pressure device while sleeping to treat sleep apnea. The device uses mild air pressure to keep the airways open during sleep. /Gettyimagesbank
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
Jayden Hwang, a 34-year-old office worker in Seoul, recently found out why he always feels tired during the day, regardless of how much sleep he gets.
He didn't know he had a sleep problem before his girlfriend told him that she was kept up all night due to his snoring.
“My girlfriend said she could hardly get any sleep with me because of my loud snoring, and she said I even stopped breathing at times. She wants me to see a doctor to get some help because we're getting married soon,” Hwang said.
Prof. Shin Won-chul, a pulmonologist at Gangdong Kyung Hee University Hospital, said sleep apnea often goes undiagnosed because people usually don't know the signs. He said patients should look for loud, chronic snoring, interrupted breathing and feeling tired during the daytime.
“The symptoms can affect people's physical as well as mental health, but sleep apnea is definitely treatable,” Shin said.
Obstructive sleep apnea refers to a disorder, in which airflow to the respiratory tract stops during sleep and causes severe snoring and temporarily breathlessness. It does not initially appear to be dangerous as the symptoms are common.
However, Shin said if it is left untreated for a while, it can lead to cerebrovascular disease, cerebral infarction, dementia and even possibly death.
Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when the muscles in the back of throat relax. These muscles support the soft palate, the uvula, the tonsils, the side walls of the throat and the tongue. When the muscles relax, the airway narrows or closes.
When patients can't get enough air, it can lower the oxygen level in their blood. Their brain senses the inability to breathe and briefly rouses them from sleep so that they can reopen the airway. The awakening is so short that people usually don't remember it.
“The pattern of snorting, choking, and gasping can repeat itself five to 30 times or more each hour and prevents you from getting a deep sleep. This kind of shortness of breath due to sleep apnea can worsen high blood pressure by increasing the body's consumption of oxygen in the blood,” said Lee Hyang-woon, a professor at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital.
The number of patients diagnosed with the illness is steadily increasing. According to data from the Korea Health Review and Assessment Service (KHRA), 45,067 people were treated for sleep apnea in 2018, around a 70 percent increase from 26,655 in 2014. Among 2018's patients, 36,493 were men, taking up 81 percent.
“The cause of obstructive sleep apnea is also closely related to a patient's lifestyle, such as eating habits, exercise, smoking and alcohol problems,” Lee said.
Test and diagnosis
If patents have symptoms of sleep apnea, doctors will ask them to have a sleep apnea test, which is called a polysomnogram. A polysomnogram, or sleep study, is a multiple-component test that electronically transmits and records specific physical activities while sleeping. The recordings are analyzed by doctors to determine whether the patient has sleep apnea or another kind of sleep disorder.
If the patient is diagnosed with the condition, he or she will be asked to do further sleep tests so as to decide the best option for treatment.
During the sleep study, surface electrodes will be put on the patient's face, sending recorded electrical signals to the measuring equipment. The signals are generated by brain and muscle activity. Belts will also be placed around the chest and abdomen to measure breathing, and an oximeter probe will be put on the fingers to measure the amount of oxygen in the blood.
Treatment
One treatment option for obstructive sleep apnea is use of a continuous positive airway pressure device (CPAP). The CPAP is a mask that fits over the nose and mouth, and gently blows air into the airway to help keep it open during one's sleep.
Other methods of treating sleep apnea include dental appliances which reposition the lower jaw and tongue. The Oral appliances for the treatment of the illness continue to increase in popularity as awareness grows that oral appliances are an effective first line treatment for many sleep apnea patients. The appliances are worn in the mouth, just like a sports mouth guard or an orthodontic appliance, while sleeping. Oral appliances hold the lower jaw forward just enough to keep the airway open and prevent the tongue and muscles in the upper airway from collapsing and blocking the airway.
Prof. Lee said lifestyle changes are effective ways of mitigating symptoms of sleep apnea.
“Losing weight, avoiding alcohol, and quitting smoking are some tips that can help reduce apnea severity. Cigarette smoking especially worsens swelling in the upper airway, and it makes snoring worse.”