Sleep Apnea Is More Serious Than Many People Realize

One of the lighter moments along my journey to receiving a sleep apnea diagnosis was learning that “heroic snoring” is a clinical term. It sounds more like an oddball super power — snores that can be clearly heard through walls. Many of us have such a snorer in our lives, and some endure the disruption it causes nightly.

在我被診斷出有睡眠呼吸中止症的過程中，比較輕鬆的時刻之一，是得知「英雄式打鼾」是個臨牀術語。這個詞聽來更像一種古怪又極其巨大的力量，真正的意思是隔牆還能清楚聽到的鼾聲。我們之中許多人生活周遭有這樣的打鼾者，有些人得夜夜忍受它帶來的攪擾。

We hardly need research to appreciate the difficulties this poses. Yet some studies on it have been done, and they document that snoring can lead to marital disruption, and that snorers’ bed partners can experience insomnia, headaches and daytime fatigue.

我們幾乎不需要研究就能瞭解這種鼾聲造成的困難，不過，一些關於它的研究已經完成，這些研究記載了打鼾可能導致婚姻破裂，而且打鼾者的牀伴可能會經歷失眠頭痛和日間疲勞。

But heroic (and less-than-heroic) snoring can also be a sign of an even deeper problem: obstructive sleep apnea, which is marked by a collapse of the upper airway leading to shallow breathing or breathing cessation that causes decreases in blood oxygen.

不過，英雄式（還有那些沒那麼英雄的）打鼾也可能是更深層問題的跡象：阻塞性睡眠呼吸中止，其特徵是上呼吸道塌陷導致淺呼吸或呼吸中止，使得血氧降低。

Sleep apnea can be downright deadly, and not just for those who have it. It’s associated with a greater risk of depression, heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular conditions, as well as insulin resistance.

睡眠呼吸中止完全可能致命，而且不限於患者本人。這種疾病與憂鬱、心臟病發、中風和其他心血管疾病以及胰島素抗性的風險增加有關。

As I learned, there’s no reason to meekly accept sleep apnea: There are many treatment options that can control it.

就我所知，沒有理由對睡眠呼吸中止逆來順受，有許多治療方式可以控制。

The stakes are not small. In the past five years, crashes involving an Amtrak train in South Carolina, a Long Island Rail Road train, a New Jersey Transit train and a Metro-North train in the Bronx have resulted in multiple deaths, hundreds of injuries and tens of millions of dollars in property damage. Undiagnosed or untreated sleep apnea were blamed in each case.

事關重大。過去五年，一列美國鐵路公司列車在南卡羅來納州，一列紐約長島鐵路列車，一列新澤西公共運輸公司列車和一列「大都會北方鐵路公司」列車在紐約市布朗克斯區的撞車事故，總共造成多人死亡，數百人受傷和數以千萬美元計的財產損失，其中每一件意外都是未確診或未治療的睡眠呼吸中止造成的。

And these are far from the only sleep apnea-related accidents involving trains, buses, tractor-trailers and automobiles. Up to 30 percent of motor vehicle crashes are caused by sleepy drivers. Drivers with sleep apnea are nearly five times more likely to be involved in a motor vehicle accident than other drivers. One study found that 20 percent of American truck drivers admit to falling asleep at traffic lights.

而且這些遠非跟睡眠呼吸中止有關且涉及列車、巴士、拖拉機和汽車的僅有的幾起意外。機動車輛碰撞事故高達30％為駕駛人睏倦所致。患有睡眠呼吸中止症的駕駛人發生機動車輛事故的可能性幾達其他駕駛人的五倍。研究顯示，20％的美國卡車司機承認曾在等紅燈時睡著。

You can have sleep apnea without being a loud snorer, just as you can snore without having sleep apnea. But because they’re related, what controls sleep apnea also controls snoring. A variety of machines and devices, even surgery for extreme cases, can address both conditions.

你可以在沒有大聲打鼾的情況下睡眠呼吸中止，就像你可以在沒有睡眠呼吸中止的情況下打鼾一樣，但由於兩者相關，能控制睡眠呼吸中止的也能控制打鼾。各種機器和設備，甚至是針對極端案例的手術，都可以處理這兩種健康問題。

But relative to the population that snores (about 40 percent of adults) or that has sleep apnea (about 25 percent of adults), few are diagnosed or get treatment. One study, for example, found that 90 percent of people with sleep apnea aren’t diagnosed.

但跟打鼾人口（約40％的成人）或罹患睡眠呼吸中止症的人口（約25％的成人）相比，被確診或接受治療的人為數稀少，舉例而言，有一項研究顯示，90％的睡眠呼吸中止患者未獲確診。

文／Austin Frakt　譯／李京倫