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Fitful nightly sleep linked to chronic inflammation, hardened arteries

news.berkeley.edu

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Re: Fitful nightly sleep linked to chronic inflammation, hardened arteries

#191

Post by TylerE »

dilatedmind wrote: post #90
benwilson-512 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And even if you're young, if you find yourself waking up at night with your heart racing, excessive snoring, etc, get it checked out. I got a CPAP machine at 20, and it's hard to overstate the impact. You can even just straight up buy them these days and adjust the settings yourself, sometimes the insurance premium on the sleep study is as high as the cost of the machine.

where can you buy them without a prescription?

There are online sites that will sell you one...basically the way I understand it is they will do a phone consult with a licensed physician. The perscription is required if you want your insurance to pay for it.

The cost is not insignifigant. Cost of the machine itself is around $1000, and then perhaps $150-200 in supplies every 3 months.

Totally worth it though. Life changing.

Re: Fitful nightly sleep linked to chronic inflammation, hardened arteries

#192

Post by stellar678 »

Afton wrote: post #131
mancerayder wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I asked a doctor about it and he said that since I'm not obese nor overweight, and I don't regularly wake up gasping, then I'm not a candidate. I've had fitful sleep as far as I can remember. I wake up (and remember it) probably 4-5 times a night and I've been told I toss and turn all the time. I find if I take a calmant or a substance I can sleep through the night. I have chronic inflammation includes Achilles' pain…

Please go see a sleep doctor, not a GP. I was diagnosed in my late 30s, and I was definitely not overweight at the time. In retrospect, many things that I thought were normal (or even positive) turned out to be very clear symptoms of chronic sleep deprivation.

I'm super curious - what were symptoms of your sleep deprivation that you took to be positive qualities?

Re: Fitful nightly sleep linked to chronic inflammation, hardened arteries

#193

Post by eschutte2 »

naasking wrote: post #170

This article seems to contradict itself: > UC Berkeley sleep scientists have begun to reveal what it is about fragmented nightly sleep that leads to the fatty arterial plaque buildup known as atherosclerosis that can result in fatal heart disease. This is a causal claim, emphasis mine, which contradicts: > “To the best of our knowledge, these data are the first to associate sleep fragmentation, inflammation and ather…

I also noticed that. They do say

> “Indeed, these associational results in humans mirror recent data in which experimentally manipulated sleep disruption in mice led to higher levels of circulating inflammation that caused atherosclerotic lesions in the rodents,” added Vallat.

...which sounds like the real research.

Re: Fitful nightly sleep linked to chronic inflammation, hardened arteries

#194

Post by kortilla »

yohannparis wrote: post #45
throw1234651234 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because to some people $500 is a lot and doctor visits are often useless. "See a doctor" is default advice, but it can be very expensive advice.

This a USA healthcare problem, and you should flag it as such.

Why? If going to a doctor is free for you, you know that.

Re: Fitful nightly sleep linked to chronic inflammation, hardened arteries

#195

Post by kortilla »

philipps wrote: post #185
jpxw wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are, yes. But the average American would be shocked at the "customer experience" the average patient gets from the NHS. No such thing as a free lunch etc. And I think if you have private insurance (i.e: double paying), you'll probably be paying more than the average American. I don't know for sure though.

I am not sure what you mean by “average American” but millions of people in this country rely on emergency room visits for their health care needs. I suspect the NHS provides a superior “patient” experience.

Average usually refers to the mean or median. The uninsured folks you refer do not make up the majority required to reach “average” criteria.

Re: Fitful nightly sleep linked to chronic inflammation, hardened arteries

#196

Post by Gatsky »

tartoran wrote: post #85
dcolkitt wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This may sound crazy, but for those who can't tolerate a CPAP, an effective alternative is playing the didgeridoo.[1] Anecdotally my wife and kids were complaining about my snoring, and I bought one for $40 off Amazon. Not only has my snoring improved, but my lung capacity has improved. Plus it's just fun to play. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1360393/

Yes, fixing out the lung capacity, musculature of the diaphragm, throat, tongue, etc is really the cure. And loosing excess weight if that is the case. CPAP, while effective and life changing is a band aid that the medical industry can make money on. I don't hear anyone saying that the CPAP should be used in conjunction with restorative exercises. I'm glad you found this solution.

To be fair, CPAP was originally developed for people with severe sleep apnoea and other neuromuscular disorders that have no other option.

Re: Fitful nightly sleep linked to chronic inflammation, hardened arteries

#197

Post by john-radio »

hinkley wrote: post #34
kzrdude wrote: post #5

I didnt sleep enough for all my teens and student years, and ended up with an autoimmune disease. Taking sleep and other health seriously has been a big part of getting myself back in working shape.

The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, he said: “Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

This fake quote is bullshit and you should feel bad: https://ntweblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/that-dalai-lama-quotat...

Re: Fitful nightly sleep linked to chronic inflammation, hardened arteries

#198

Post by john-radio »

hinkley wrote: post #44
hinkley wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, he said: “Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

That quote and watching him interact with Desmond Tutu like they are school-aged BFFs are my favorite things about the Dalai Lama.

Good news! You can pare it down to a single favorite thing about him; that quote is bullshit. https://ntweblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/that-dalai-lama-quotat...

Re: Fitful nightly sleep linked to chronic inflammation, hardened arteries

#199

Post by Gatsky »

layoutIfNeeded wrote: post #181
wincy wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm glad Prozac worked for you. It made me impotent in my 20s and I felt like I was being dropped down an elevator shaft for months after discontinuing it.

> being dropped down an elevator shaft What do you mean by this?

It causes vestibular symptoms. This creates the sensation of motion without movement.

Incidentally, if you’ve never had true vertigo, it is very disconcerting how much a sensory organ malfunction can affect your perception of the world. It is a kind of spatial psychosis that you can observe objectively.

Re: Fitful nightly sleep linked to chronic inflammation, hardened arteries

#200

Post by nashalo_nighly »

metrokoi wrote: post #166
sweetsocks21 wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got diagnosed with sleep apnea and asked about this, since I'm not overweight. The doctor said it's more about the structure of the mouth and throat than obesity. There is an area at the back of the tongue that gathers more fat and can block the throat, but palette structure is a big factor. Along with jaw size and throat size. I remember reading not too long ago on HN an article about our dental health in modern t…

This absolutely makes sense to me. It explains why it affects anyone, not just overweight people or people who do not exercise. Our mouths evolved to masticate much larger amounts of low calorie and high fiber food. If this theory is correct, it is still unfortunate that it is not easily solved with something like exercise alone and often requires either braces or CPAP.

I’m not so sure about that, men and women largely have the same diets yet I think sleep apnea disproportionately affects men.
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