Sleep apnea
Sawing Logs
There's nothing worse when you're sleeping than being woken up in the middle of the night by a sharp jab in the side, followed by your husband or wife telling you you're snoring. But if your snoring is brought on by sleep apnea, you could have a bigger problem than that rude awakening: Scientists recently linked this condition to stroke.
In a study of 1,475 people, researchers found that patients with sleep apnea faced a four-times greater risk of stroke than patients without it. And sleep apnea isn't just a sign of a stroke risk -- the disorder can actually cause you to develop a stroke.
If you snore, you might be getting worried now. But there is good news: sleep apnea is treatable.
Sleep apnea occurs when your breathing gets blocked throughout the night, causing you to stop breathing, and often resulting in gasping for air, or in your body waking itself up so that you can breathe again. Unfortunately, doctors often fail in detecting sleep apnea, making it a widely under-diagnosed problem. I send people for testing every week. But for your doctor to properly diagnose your problem, it's important that you know your symptoms.
"But doc," you might say. "How am I supposed to know my symptoms if I'm sleeping when they happen?" The answer is simple. If you know that you snore, most likely someone told you. That same person probably also knows if you're tossing and turning, gasping for air, or constantly waking up throughout the night -- the main signs of sleep apnea.
In some cases of sleep apnea, surgery may be necessary, though the results are generally modest. Many patients use a nighttime oxygen mask. This may sound uncomfortable at first, but it actually provides a gentle, soothing noise. And once you're getting solid, restful sleep at night, you'll feel so much better during the day that you'll quickly get used to the mask.
In the meantime, there are a few things you can do to help yourself.
If you smoke, quit.
If you're overweight, take a look at your current diet and exercise status and see if there are some improvements you can make to help you shed a few pounds. Obesity contributes to sleep apnea in two ways. First, excess fat in the neck tissue compresses your airway, which can cause it to collapse. Also, excess weight in the abdomen makes your breathing muscles operate poorly, making it difficult for you to breathe while sleeping.
Try not to drink alcohol in the evening. Alcohol depresses your breathing reflexes and can aggravate sleep apnea. Many medications can also interfere with breathing, including sleeping pills and tranquilizers.
If you have allergies, treat them. Allergies can narrow your airways, worsening your sleep apnea.
Apolipoprotein B better predictor of heart disease than LDL cholesterol
When it comes to predicting heart disease, doctors often rely on measuring your LDL cholesterol -- a type of cholesterol that is necessary for your body to function, but that can clog up your arteries if it gets too high. This is why it's often referred to as "bad cholesterol."
But recently, scientists discovered a better way to predict your risk of heart disease: by measuring a protein in your body called apolipoprotein B.
Apolipoprotein B (APOB) is a substance in your blood that binds with LDL cholesterol and is responsible for carrying it to different tissues in your body. But along the way it can get lodged in your artery walls and contribute to plaque buildup. During a recent study, researchers decided that measuring just APOB, instead of your "bad" cholesterol, is better for predicting heart disease.
There are still some kinks to work out of this kind of testing, though. Some experts argue that adding APOB assessments to standard testing could be confusing, and not offer useful information in most cases. We'll just have to wait and see. Personally, I think it's another important bit of ammunition in the fight against heart disease, but it shouldn't necessarily change the way you go about reducing your risk.
Like always, it's most important that you keep a good diet, exercise regularly, manage your stress, keep a watch out for high blood pressure and cholesterol, and of course, don't smoke. For a more detailed rundown of my suggestions for keeping your heart healthy, check out the premier issue of my newsletter from earlier this year, which features the article "Cholesterol counts-but not as much as you might think." (Subscribers can download this issue from my online archives for free by visiting www.AmericasCountryDoctor.com and logging on with the username and password listed on page 8 of your most recent issue.)
Relaxation therapy promotes blood sugar control
People keep saying diabetes is becoming an epidemic. I hate to say it, but it's not becoming one -- it already is one. That has a lot of my patients stressed out about their blood sugar levels. I tell them to relax -- after all, that's the best cure.
A recent study revealed that relaxation therapy -- assisted by biofeedback -- can greatly reduce your blood sugar. Biofeedback is a method used by physicians and psychiatrists for teaching patients how to improve their health by using signals from their own bodies. This technique typically involves using a machine to monitor how your body reacts to different conditions and then using that information to control those bodily functions and responses.
In their study, researchers monitored the effects of relaxation therapy and biofeedback among a group of 30 patients with Type II diabetes. After 10 sessions of biofeedback and relaxation therapy, the doctors noticed major decreases in the patients' blood sugar.
Now I know that being hooked up to a machine to monitor your body's responses doesn't sound very simple, or very comfortable. But biofeedback machines are easy to use and painless, and the research behind their effectiveness is pretty well founded.
The nice thing about relaxation therapy is that it really feels good and improves general health benefit to boot. If it means cutting your blood sugar and fighting back against diabetes, and enjoying yourself at the same time, what do you have to lose.
