Undiagnosed Sleep Apnea among women on rise: Study
Sleep apnea is now being detected in nearly as many Australian women as men.
Medical researchers are concerned about the hidden dangers of the condition, and the alarming rate of women being misdiagnosed.
Jan Brock was unaware, but at night, she was sometimes waking up 30 times an hour.
"I'd be deep in sleep, and then all of a sudden it would feel like I was choking. I'd have to wake up. It was a really nasty feeling, really scary," she told Seven News reporter Emily Angwin.
It turns out the 38-year-old has Sleep Apnea, a condition which affects and disrupts the way you breathe when sleeping.
Breathing pauses typically last between 10 to 20 seconds and can occur up to 100 times a night, jolting you out of a regular sleeping rhythm.
The condition is more prevalent in men, but alarmingly, women are representing nearly 40 per cent of newly diagnosed cases.
The symptoms go beyond tiredness. They include:
Headaches
Frequent and loud snoring
Episodes of breathing cessation
Difficulty falling asleep
One in two women, aged between 20 and 70, live with Sleep Apnea, but their condition is often misdiagnosed or missed completely.
A recent study has revealed Australian women are more likely to go to a doctor about their sleep concerns than men, but they are less likely to be referred to a sleep study than their male counterparts.
There are serious long-term health consequences resulting from Sleep Apnea, including heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
So the message to women from Jan and health experts is simple.
"Don't accept it as just a part of life. Talk to your doctor about it," said Dr Michelle Caldicott of Epworth Hospital.
