TREASURE COAST MEDICAL REPORT
and easy-going and I feel well-rested
all day.’’
Tired all the time? You aren’t alone.
Sleep disorders rob millions of people of
sleep every night, affecting their lives,
sometimes drastically. Sleep apnea, a condition
in which a person literally stops
breathing for brief intervals while asleep,
is one of the most common types of sleep
disorders, after general insomnia, which is
often caused by environmental influences.
In fact, one in 20 men suffer from sleep
apnea. Like Jose, they stop breathing, for a
few seconds or up to two minutes or more,
as many as a few times an hour to even
60-100 times per hour during the night
and often don’t even realize it is happening.
Sufferers wake up tired because they
haven’t gotten much of the deep REM
(rapid-eye-movement) dream sleep that
refreshes, and often their spouses have
interrupted sleep from the snoring that
can accompany sleep apnea.
“When breathing stops, oxygen levels
drop drastically and this can affect the
heart, lungs and blood pressure as well,”
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SLEEP
Polysomnographic technologist Tracy Frazier, below, applies monitors to Jason Bray. Above, she
monitors his sleep patterns during the night.
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