There are many different treatment modalities for OSA (obstructive sleep apnea). It is well documented that over 40% of CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) owners are non-compliant and 17% of people that are diagnosed with OSA refuse to even consider CPAP therapy. Here at Advanced Oral Diagnosis and Treatment Center (AODTC), we find a much higher rate of compliance with dental appliances for OSA.
It is extremely important that OSA be treated and that your sleep hygiene is in such order that deep (delta sleep) is achieved. Delta is usually associated with deep, slow-wave sleep, where the body is at total rest. This allows a very important phenomenon to occur promoting the health of the brain.
Among our neurons are Glial cells of which there are several varieties, one of which has a special purpose to protect the other cells from damage, much like how styrofoam protects fine crystal in a box. Once the body ceases to have strong movement, these cells shrink to one tenth their size, thus allowing fluids to be exchanged and the brain to be cleansed of debris, such as dead cells, cellular waste, and harmful chemicals like MSG and accutane. This could easily explain the 200% increased chance of developing Alzheimer’s when OSA is not corrected.
Earlier I mentioned sleep hygiene. There are many factors that interfere with sleep in addition to OSA. For millions of years, when the sun went down, all we had for a light source was fire, which stimulates the production of melatonin, the opposite of serotonin. Now we have blue light in the form of TV, cell phones, computers, games and fluorescent lights. Between smart meters and wifi we are now flooded with EMF (Electromagnetic Frequency), which has also been found to mess up your sleep hygiene.
Eating too soon before bed can also cause poor sleep, especially if alcohol or sugar are added. In an earlier ALIVE article I mentioned that lights ought to be removed from soccer fields so that kids can get a family dinner with conversation, and achieve healthy sleep. It’s frightening to think what the youth of today may face in the form of mental health, as they age due to these many modern abuses.
I am fortunate to belong to several medically-oriented societies—especially alternative medicine—and I see a shift happening today in the medical community toward considering our evolution and ancient history more seriously in terms of health. Changing dietary, lifestyle and family practices, among other rituals, can have disastrous consequences. There was a lot of very useful knowledge in Plato’s time and before, that would serve present day man quite well.
At AODTC all of our methods come from a holistic approach. Our results demonstrate the benefits. For more information please visit www.aodtc.com.
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