The Hemp Connection [Search results for sleep apnea] 

Most of you reading this blog have some sort of sleep disorder. Sleep apnea shows up quite often with PCOS…and with it, comes a prescription for a noisy fighter pilot mask contraption called a CPAP machine.

I have yet to hear anyone say that a CPAP actually improves quality of life, as it requires trading one discomfort for another.

So I was more than interested when a Google ad recently popped up, in which it was reported that regular didgeridoo playing helped to lessen the symptoms of sleep apnea. If you're not a music geek, a didgeridoo is an instrument traditionally played by native Australians. (I'm including a video with a sample of the music below, you may recognize its unique sound once you listen.)

Apparently, the muscles that are strengthened with didgeridoo playing, are the ones that are weak in people with sleep apnea. In the study referenced below, with 25 minutes of playing a day, 6 days a week, study participants experienced significantly less daytime sleepiness. And their sleep partners reported improved quality of sleep as well!

If you're musically inclined, or adventurous, it is certainly worth a shot to see if it helps your condition! If you're a sleep-deprived sleep apnea significant other…you may just have found your perfect birthday/anniversary gift for that person who has everything.

If you live in the Los Angeles area, and you have sleep apnea, whether or not you have PCOS, we're hoping to collaborate with a small business over there specializing in didgeridoo crafting. We think a beach front class in how to play this interesting instrument could be a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon! If you're interested in knowing more, please contact me at marika@google.com.

If you're interested in the instrument, but can't get yourself to LA, please visit our new friends' website, http://www.laoutback.com/. Be sure to tell them where you heard of their instruments.

Puhan MA, Suarez A, Lo Cascio C, Zahn A, Heitz M, Braendli O Didgeridoo playing as alternative treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome: randomised controlled trial. BMJ. 2006 Feb 4;332(7536):266-70. Epub 2005 Dec 23.

Many people find snoring laughable or annoying, but they don’t think of it as a critical health condition. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is much more common in women with PCOS, and it may cause or heighten any number of symptoms and other conditions, including negative impacts on blood sugar metabolism, blood pressure regulation, organ health, and all cardiac functions. OSA disrupts sleep to the point where you experience symptoms like non-refreshing sleep, feeling sleepy during the day, having frequent headaches, experiencing problems with memory, learning, and concentration, and feeling irritable, anxious, depressed, and moody.

In other words, limited and/or poor quality sleep contributes to and/or causes anxiety and depression. How do you know you have OSA? All of the above symptoms may be indicators, and a big one is that you have loud snoring (so loud that other people notice, comment on it, and complain about it, kick you out of bed, or leave and go sleep somewhere else). If you’re carrying excess weight, OSA is more likely to be a problem.

Because OSA contributes so strongly to a poor state of mental health, if you have any suspicion that you have it, you owe it to yourself to get it checked out. Typically, if OSA is suspected by your doctor, you’ll be sent to a sleep lab for an overnight sleep study, in which electrodes will be attached to your head and select points on your body, and you’ll be observed by both a human being and machines while sleeping. The test will be analyzed and a determination will be made.

There are a few ways to treat OSA, including weight loss, elevating your bed, utilizing allergy pills or inhalers at night, practicing the digeridoo religiously (seriously – it’s an Australian instrument that strengthens muscles in your throat), utilizing a specially crafted mouth device or small inserts that affix to your nose or, most commonly, with a CPAP machine. CPAP stands for continuous positive airway pressure, and it prevents your airway from collapsing or becoming blocked.

For many people, when they get their OSA diagnosed and treated properly, they feel well-rested, less moody, and less depressed. They may have more energy to exercise, and consequently lose weight. Obviously, there’s a really strong cause-and-effect relationship between inadequate and poor quality sleep and mood disorders. It’s not surprising there’s a PCOS link. If you’d like to learn more, there is ample information on the internet, and the type of doctor that typically treats sleep disorders medically is a pulmonologist. Health psychologists treat the behavioral aspects of sleep issues, by teaching sleep hygiene and ways to overcome non-compliant medical behaviors.

Sources:

Nitsche K, Ehrmann DA. Obstructive sleep apnea and metabolic dysfunction in polycystic ovary syndrome. Best Pract Res Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2010 Oct;24(5):717-30.

Tasali E, Van Cauter E, Ehrmann DA. Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Sleep Med Clin. 2008 Mar;3(1):37-46.

Gretchen Kubacky, Psy.D. is a Health Psychologist in private practice in West Los Angeles, California. She has completed the inCYST training. She specializes in counseling women and

You may know of melatonin as a potent sleep aid. So much so, that if you took melatonin and you did not experience an enhanced ability to sleep, you stopped taking it.

Did you know, melatonin is a very powerful antioxidant as well? Some of the benefits of this compound relevant to PCOS include:

--lowered blood pressure
--improved memory
--reduced adrenal gland activity and cortisol secretion
--reduced cortisol response to stress
--reduced blood glucose, insulin levels, and insulin response to a glucose load
--reduced cholesterol and triglycerides
--reduced testosterone levels
--increased progesterone synthesis
--slows gastric emptying (which can help you to feel fuller, longer)

That's a lot of stuff! And it's not just not sleeping well that interferes with melatonin metabolism. So does fasting and starvation…which includes any kind of radical diet, including the medically supervised ones and the HCG ones. Melatonin levels in all three types of eating disorders, anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder, are disrupted. Obesity suppresses normal melatonin daily rhythms. Omega-3 deficiency reduces melatonin synthesis and total tissue levels.

Vitamin deficiencies such as B12, zinc, and magnesium, can interfere with good melatonin status. When I read that, I immediately thought of the many vegetarians reading this blog, as those are common deficiencies when vegetarian eating is not proactively balanced.

Normal melatonin metabolism may be dependent on physical activity.

Medical problems associated with a melatonin imbalance include: affective disorders, Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, asthma, autism, bipolar disorder, cervical cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, cluster headaches, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, Cushing’s syndrome, depression, diabetes, duodenal ulcer, epilepsy, fibromyalgia, hypertension, idiopathic pain syndrome, lung cancer, metabolic syndrome, migraine headaches, obesity, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, Parkinson’s disease, polycystic ovary syndrome, pre-eclampsia, premenstrual syndrome, schizophrenia, seasonal affective disorder, sleep apnea, and ulcerative colitis.

I'm well aware that many people reading this blog are looking for a magic supplement to erase the need for making healthy lifestyle choices. If you choose to supplement with melatonin, it likely will not hurt you, and it may help you to restore normal sleep patterns, but it will never replace the power of regular, adequate sleep. Just sayin'.: )

If you've never used melatonin before, and you decide to start, you may want to try it on a night when it's not essential that you be up and functioning early the next day. It can have a paradoxical reaction in some people.

And, if you happen to be a professional pilot, the FAA advises against using melatonin while on duty. It certainly wouldn't hurt on your days off, especially if you've been on some grueling red eye flights, just beware of this disclaimer while officially on duty.

I have an extensive list of references I've collected from which this blog post was derived. If you would like them you can contact me directly.

Bottom line, if you don't value sleep, your body is going to have a really, really, really hard time being healthy.

It's not something many PCOS practitioners think to ask during an assessment…but it's one of my first. That is, how well you sleep. Most women with PCOS are exhausted. They can't sleep at night and it's all they want to do all day. We did an informal survey a few years ago that surprised the sleep specialists I showed it to. Fully 85% of women with PCOS reported insomnia, sleepwalking, night eating, fibromyalgia, and/or early morning waking. We didn't even include obstructive sleep apnea, the sleep disorder most often associated with PCOS. What's going on? Melatonin, the chemical we tend to associate with making us sleepy, is also an extremely powerful antioxidant. It makes you sleepy so you slow down and rest while it does its main job…scrubbing up and cleaning up oxidative damage that has happened during the day. If you're under a lot of oxidative stress, it tends to want to kick in at odd hours…during the day. It's your brain's way of telling you that you need to slow things down, because it's gotten behind on the cleaning chores. When you are sleepy during the day, you are likely under stress. And if you have used up your melatonin stores during the day in an attempt to clean up the junk, there may not be enough to make you sleepy enough to fall asleep. What's a PCOS girl to do? --work on stress management --make sure your sleep hygiene practices are impeccable: turn off all digital equipment after 7:30 pm, keep the shades drawn to protect yourself from outdoor light, turn the alarm clock to face the wall so the light will not interfere with your hormones. Yes, you can take melatonin, and I've recommended it from time to time. But it's a bandaid solution. Your true answer is to start pulling yourself back into balance.

Working with PCOS has taught me how prevalent the problem of poor sleep is. People who don't sleep well tend to gravitate toward caffeine and sugar all day long, and the vicious cycle can lead to insulin resistance and weight gain.

I've become increasingly concerned about the percentage of inCYST clients on Ambien and Lunesta, not to mention CPAP machines. I just have never been able to believe that this has to be the fate of the non-sleeper.

But…I also knew that even if insomniacs were motivated to spend all of a weekend day in a workshop designed to help them, they'd likely drift off right in the middle of it! So I've been working with colleague Nancy Carballo to develop an experiential alternative giving participants a chance to learn and experience a few different opportunities to look at insomnia a little more naturalistically.

I'm excited! We've planned yoga on the beach, a didgeridoo lesson (since this instrument helps to strengthen the muscles commonly weakened in sleep apnea), a couple of laid back lectures, and sleep-friendly eating (including dinner with popular LA dark dining restaurant, Opaque). Our spa partner in this endeavor, Creative Chakra, is also offering additional massages and light therapy sessions.

We have a Facebook page for the event…you can join us there to let us know you'd like to be notified when we open registration, or you can write me directly at marika@google.com

Anyone with insomnia, whether or not they have PCOS, is welcome to participate.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz you there!