Sleep Right Australia: Melbourne

About

Sleep Right Australia was founded in Mansfield by Biomedical Scientist in March 2010.

Working with the Mansfield Medical Clinic initially, Andrew has been providing Home Diagnostic Sleep Testing and CPAP therapy for patients.

Sleep Right Australia prides itself on having the latest information and all of the latest products.

Q. Should I do something about Sleep Apnoea?

A. The reality is a lot of people don't. For some reason it takes people a long time to do something about sleep apnoea but when they do the difference the majority of people feel is significant, in a lot of instances life changing.

While price and the fact that a mask while you sleep is the best form of treatment can put people off, once people give it a go and get into it they ask themselves why they didn't give it a go sooner.

Q. Is snoring bad for my health?

A. In many ways, yes.

Bad for relations with bed partner.

There are studies being done to analyse the effects of the vibrations in the airway on the blood flow to the head.

Try sitting in your chair for two minutes and 'snoring' while inhaling. It hurts your throat and doesn't feel pleasant. Can effect how you wake up.

Snoring on its own is a partial blockage of the airway dropping O2 levels and in some instances causing arousals which interrupt natural progression of sleep stages. Interruptions in sleep cause drowsiness during the day as we are not getting the full benefits from a nights rest.

Q. What is this sleep apnoea everyone keeps talking about?

A. Good question. Sleep apnoea is an issue that exists for people who stop breathing for extended periods during the night. It is a two pronged sword in that the pauses of breath cause a drop in oxygen levels which puts all sorts of stress on our bodies. Secondly our bodies have a mechanism that forces us to wake when these oxygen levels drop (fortunately). However if we experience to many of these arousals during the night we find it extremely hard to get into deeper, more sound, stages of sleep. This effects our quality of sleep to the point where people wake in the morning feeling unrefreshed or washed out despite having 8-10 hrs sleep.

It is no surprise. An apnoea exists when the airway is blocked off for 10 seconds or more. If you have a spare hr try holding your breath for 10 seconds once every 2 minutes and see how you feel. It is not a nice feeling.

Q. Who is most likely to have Sleep Apnoea?

A. If we were to stereotype, your average sleep apnoea sufferer would be an overweight male aged between 40 and 70. However, as we conduct more and more studies we are finding that it is related to more factors than weight alone. Weight does play a big part in sleep apnoea however anatomy of the airway also plays a big part in determining who may sleep apnoea. The best indicator is if a bed partner notices snoring or pauses of breath during the night. Secondary to this, but argumentatively just as important are symptoms such as waking unrefreshed, excessive tiredness during the day, waking with a sore throat or headache.

There is mounting research linking sleep apnoea with Hypertension, Type II Diabetes, Stroke and other Cardio-Vascular disease.

If you snore and suffer or have suffered from any of these co-morbidities what is the harm in getting tested for Sleep Apnoea?