ResMed simplifies sleep science for everyone – kyunki neend achchi, toh din achcha

To help people get a good night’s sleep, ResMed introduces #WakeUpToGoodSleep, a 360-degree campaign to drive sleep awareness in India. Read on to know more.

By: Editorial Team | Edited by: Jahnavi Sarma | | Updated: March 19, 2021 12:11 pm

If you ever felt gasping for breath in the middle of your sleep, so much so that it interrupted deep slumber, you probably have sleep apnea.

Also Read - Bring down your risk of COVID-19 infection by 12 per cent with just an extra hour of sleep every night

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ResMed introduces #WakeUpToGoodSleep, a 360-degree campaign to drive sleep awareness in India. The campaign is conceptualised to underscore the importance of sleep quality for overall wellbeing, it aims to highlight the growing and largely unidentified sleep disorders in India and the treatment options available. A sound sleep keeps you away from many other serious issues such as type -2 diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and depression. Also Read - Sleep apnea: The obstruction to good health

World Sleep Day (WSD) is an annual, global call to action about the importance of healthy sleep. The focus of WSD is to bring cognizance to the many burdens of sleep problems, as well as the importance of healthy sleep. WSD publicly displays the efforts being taken toward the prevention and management of sleep disorders. Created and hosted by the World Sleep Society, World Sleep Day is an internationally recognized awareness event bringing researchers, health professionals, and patients together to recognize sleep and its important impact on our health. Considering the fact that you can survive without food for a week but not without sleep makes it an essential aspect of life. However, sleep disorders are the most neglected areas in a healthy lifestyle. Often people acknowledge and seek help for narcolepsy and insomnia but have you heard about sleep apnea?

Sleep apnea, a global burden

Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder caused by relaxed muscles in the upper airway. In sleep apnea, the throat muscle and the tongue abnormally relax or collapse, choking the pharyngeal airway. This action obstructs the body’s natural air-intake resulting in episodes of apnea i.e. blockage in the airway, followed by waking-up startled in the middle of their sleep due to the lack of oxygen entering their body. For over 2-year, ResMed studied the available research literature to find prevalence data for obstructive sleep apnea. The comparative study of 17 research data available for 16 countries has led to the findings that almost 936 million people worldwide have this condition. The number of patients with obstructive sleep apnea was highest in China, followed by the USA, Brazil, and India, according to a report by The Lancet.

In India, 16 per cent suffer from this condition

In India, a study was done on 365 people aged between 30-65 to find the prevalence of sleep apnea. Among the test subjects, 19.6 per cent have been diagnosed with the disorder. 11.6 per cent of all the people tested suffer from moderate to severe sleep apnea, experiencing 15 or more events per hour. To add to the above-mentioned information, almost 5.4 per cent of all Indians ages 30-69 (28.8 million) have moderate to severe sleep apnea, meaning they experience at least 15 apneas in an hour. In other words, people with this condition stop breathing for at least 10 seconds or longer in their sleep and this happens at least once every 4 minutes on average. Moreover, if you apply a broad global undiagnosed rate of 80 per cent, that is, over 41.2 million Indians suffer from undiagnosed, untreated sleep apnea.

Recognising the problem: Symptoms of sleep apnea

If you ever felt gasping for breath in the middle of your sleep, so much so that it interrupted deep slumber, you probably have sleep apnea. Other symptoms include snoring, morning headaches, chronic daytime sleepiness, fatigue, irritability, impaired concentration, etc. Most of the patients don’t even realise that they have sleep apnea until they face more complicated issues or are warned by their doctors. Now that you are aware of the primary symptoms of this sleep disorder, self-diagnosis shall become easier. Remember, it’s essential to distinguish the indications because this condition can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, arrhythmia, stroke, obesity, depression, and type 2 diabetes. As we all know, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity are critical health problems that lead to dire consequences. Not only that, according to some cases reported by doctors, COVID was riskier in patients with comorbidities like diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, which this condition can trigger or amplify. Bottom line – sleeping disorder like sleep apnea or obstructive sleep apnea is a silent killer or degrades body day by day.

One in three people have this condition: CPAP therapy helps

Fret not! You are not alone, one in three people have this sleep disorder, and your doctor may advise you to adopt a healthy lifestyle or use a CPAP (Continuous Positive Air Pressure) device to manage it. CPAP therapy is the gold standard therapy for managing sleeping disorders like obstructive sleep apnea. If you think (or know) or your doctor advises for a CPAP therapy, be assured of a better sleep experience and feeling energetic the next day. A lunchbox-sized device, CPAP machine blows a constant positive airflow via mask and tube while you sleep, helping to keep your airway open. Further, individuals can also track and monitor their CPAP journey through myAir app.

A case study

When people are introduced to a relatively new therapy, they are a little sceptical. The same thing happened to Sunny Oberoi. At the age of 56, Sunny suffered uncontrolled diabetes and obesity, even after maintaining a healthy lifestyle and dietary choices. His sudden increase in weight made his diabetologist worried and advised him to go for bariatric surgery. However, just before the surgery his diabetologist noticed many other signs such as his neck circumference, his daytime sleepiness issue, and his frequent complaints on nocturnal urination and advised him to contact ResMed’s sleep coach helpline.

Given his health condition, it was not shocking to find Sunny’s AHI (Apnea-Hypopnea Index, unit to track sleep apnea) on the higher side. The doctor immediately advised him to go for CPAP therapy. With a little help and handholding by ResMed’s sleep coach, he has been using CPAP for the past 2 years. Now, Sunny is living a healthy life with controlled diabetes and weight issues. He has embraced an active lifestyle with regular exercises and healthy food choices.

ResMed introduces onesleeptest by Ectosense NightOwl in India

Keeping this in mind, ResMed introducing the onesleeptest by Ectosense NightOwl in India to help patients/ physicians diagnose millions of Indians who suffer from undiagnosed sleep apnoea as a part of their #WakeUpToGoodSleep campaign. The unique test is a comprehensive sleep kit that has been approved by US-FDA for accurate and safe results. The test is a disposable, multi-night use test with a built-in NightOwl sensor to measure key indicators such as heart rate, oxygen desaturation, and body movements to determine the sleep quality. The onesleeptest service comprises of three elements – The NightOwl sensor, sleep scoring by leading sleep physician (sleep report) in India, and sleep coach consultancy to support the patient journey from diagnosis to therapy.

If you think you aren’t sleeping right you can book your onesleeptest kit here – and follow the simple instructions to activate the sleep test via NightOwl app from Google Play Store or iOS App Store. Onesleeptest allows a patient to assess his results. User gets a its report via mail which is verified by a sleep specialist. To book an appointment with a sleep coach, call on ResMed toll-free number – 1800-103-3969

Published : March 19, 2021 12:06 pm | Updated:March 19, 2021 12:11 pm

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