Affecting an estimated five per cent of all Australians, OSA patients frequently endure episodes of airway obstruction when their tongue and the walls of their throat come together and collapse. Sufferers often experience daytime tiredness, and in extreme cases wake up during the night choking and gasping for air.
Studies have linked altered sleep stages with a decrease in growth hormone, which plays a key role in body composition such as body fat and muscle. Researchers are currently studying the link between sleep apnoea and the development of diabetes and insulin resistance.
So what can be done?
Having a yearly sleep assessment for OSA is the best form of risk management for the disease.
If diagnosed with sleep apnoea a simple fix of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP), is the most effective treatment. The device's air flow helps prevent airway restriction or collapse, and brings an end to snoring, gasping, and interrupted sleep.
When the effects of CPAP treatment on glucose metabolism were studied, evidence suggested metabolic abnormalities can be partially corrected by CPAP treatment.
SNORE Australia is a specialist provider of sleep studies and a Silver Partner of Diabetes Queensland, and a sleep disorder centre affiliated with medical gas specialist Air Liquide Healthcare. Its recommendation for the Type 2 Diabetic patient is a yearly sleep assessment to rule out OSA and any other sleep related co-morbidities that could be prevented with early intervention.
Diabetes Queensland and SNORE Australia partner together in order to educate patients and their healthcare providers about the crucial role that correct diagnosis and proper treatment of sleep disorders has towards better managing diabetes and improving overall health and quality of life.
Information regarding SNORE Australia, sleep-disorders and diabetes, as well as sleep-study bookings can be found online, or by telephoning 1800 076 673.
