If you can breathe better, you can sleep better.

When considering sleep apnea, a common misconception is that it only consists of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA).  The stereotype is the older, overweight individual.  This is not always the case when considering sleep breathing disorders.   There is a spectrum of breathing dysfunction and OSA is essentially the last stage. The dental and medical professions have the opportunity to help identify these patients in the earlier stages and in a lot of cases direct treatment to prevent the sleep dysfunction from getting worse.  More than that, sleep quality can potentially  improve dramatically. 

Day to day life and wellness is affected even in the earlier stages of breathing dysfunction.  Often, we have patients that don't realize they have the opportunity to improve their quality of life.   Once we breathe better, we live better with more energy, endurance, and improved cognition. We also improve our overall systemic health and as a result can decrease the need for prescription medications. 

Sleep is divided into 3 stages and REM sleep.   The quality, "re-booting" sleep is in the deep sleep and REM.  The sleep that our bodies need is in the last two stages.  Dysfunctional sleep due to airway constriction or obstruction inhibits the proper cycling through all sleep stages throughout the night. If deep sleep and REM cannot be realized, the whole body system starts to break down.