Welcome back to our first episode of Season 2!
Snoring has long been a running joke between sleep partners, but if your snoring is a symptom of sleep apnea, the consequences are no laughing matter.
GUEST EXPERT LESIA CRAWFORD
Today’s guest, Lesia Crawford, has over twenty years’ experience in the dental field and specializes in helping patients understand their sleep apnea symptoms and treatment options. In 2018, she co-founded the GoTo Sleep Centers for CPAP Alternatives in Phoenix, AZ with Dr. Stacey Layman. The practice is dedicated entirely to Dental Sleep Medicine and has several locations valley-wide. Lesia is a frequent consultant and speaker.
Together, we'll build Healthy Cells, and a Healthy You!
Welcome back to our first episode of Season 2!
Snoring has long been a running joke between sleep partners, but if your snoring is a symptom of sleep apnea, the consequences are no laughing matter.
GUEST EXPERT LESIA CRAWFORD
Today’s guest, Lesia Crawford, has over twenty years’ experience in the dental field and specializes in helping patients understand their sleep apnea symptoms and treatment options. In 2018, she co-founded the GoTo Sleep Centers for CPAP Alternatives in Phoenix, AZ with Dr. Stacey Layman. The practice is dedicated entirely to Dental Sleep Medicine and has several locations valley-wide. Lesia is a frequent consultant and speaker.
Together, we'll build Healthy Cells, and a Healthy You!
Sleep Apnea 1
Fri, Mar 03, 2023 5:53PM • 39:56
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
apnea, sleep, airway, snoring, test, patients, symptoms, hormones, sleep apnea, risk factors
SPEAKERS
Janet Walker, Lesia Crawford
Janet Walker 00:02
In Shakespeare's King Henry IV, Falstaff was described as fast asleep behind the curtains and snorting like a horse. how hard he fetches breath. What was it that Shakespeare was telling us in 1596 about this character? Find out in today's episode.
Welcome back, everyone, to our first episode of season 2 of Healthy Cells Healthy You with Janet Walker. I've been working in the healthcare community for 30 years and for 16 of those years, I've been a writer and producer for the award- winning national PBS Health Information Programs, American Health Journal and Innovations in Medicine. We've interviewed 1000s of doctors, scientists and researchers on every topic related to health medicine and medical technology. You can watch current episodes of Innovations in Medicine on your local PBS channel, or you can stream our programs on the American Health Journal channel, the Better Health Channel and TV Healthy Kids.
Snoring has long been a running joke between sleep partners, but if your snoring is a symptom of sleep apnea, the consequences are no laughing matter. Did Shakespeare’s Falstaff suffer from sleep apnea? Do You? Today's guest Lisa Crawford has over 20 years’ experience in the dental field and specializes in helping patients understand their sleep apnea symptoms and treatment options. In 2018, she co- founded the go to sleep centers for CPAP alternatives in Phoenix, Arizona with Dr. Stacy Lehmann. The practice is dedicated entirely to Dental Sleep Medicine, and has several locations Valley wide. Lisa is a frequent consultant and speaker. Welcome to the show, Lisa!
Lesia Crawford 01:51
Thanks for having me. Thanks, Janet.
Janet Walker 01:54
So let's start with a description of the condition. What is sleep apnea?
Lesia Crawford 02:01
Well, sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder. And what it is, is the airway is getting obstructed, typically by the tongue in the back of the throat second in and when a person a patient is sleeping, their airway’s collapsing. And that is affecting the quality of their sleep. And it's also putting the body in a very stressed out state. Because your brain literally thinks that you're dying, right? You go into this fight or flight response. So this this fight or flight response, disrupts, again, the quality of the sleep. And that sleep roller coaster you're supposed to be going on every night. And you know, it's very prevalent, a lot of people don't really think that they might be a candidate because they think well, it's just for that overweight guy sitting there with a bucket of chicken, right. And that's not the case, it's very common. And I like to say, you know, only the sexy people have it.
Janet Walker 03:06
So, so how many, how many sexy Americans are there that aren't affected by sleep apnea yet?
Lesia Crawford 03:15
We don't know exactly, because it's so under diagnosed at this point. And I could get back with you with the numbers, but they're estimating around 20% of Americans have sleep apnea, or, wow, they'll need to be diagnosed. And I think we all need to do a better job as a health community and kind of evaluating who may have it and help with the testing and shine a light on it. So I'm so glad that you're here doing this. This is so exciting.
Janet Walker
You know, I'm so happy to have you here. When we talk about health and cellular repair, we overlook certain conditions. And we've had a number of experts come on and talk about how important sleep is. So I'm really glad you're here to talk about this. What causes sleep apnea?
Lesia Crawford
Well, there are some components that they can say is a genetic component, but really, it's just a structural issue. Typically, either the neck is too big, there's, there's a large population of football players that have sleep apnea because they've actually training their neck and so or too much weight on the neck, which will put pressure on the airway. And then there's the internal structure of the mouth and the airway. So again, a lot of people don't have their wisdom teeth right there wasn't teeth removed the dentist at all you have too many teeth in your mouth and they extracted their bicuspids and straightened everything out but they ended up giving the patient a size eight mouth when they have a size 10 tongue. So there's the jaw structure. Sure. And believe it or not lack of breastfeeding. and processed foods is where the science has led us to, in kind of the evolution of the size and strength of our jaw, and our tongue. So, you know, when, when a child doesn't breastfed, right? For two years, the tongue is trained to go to the roof of the mouth and help put pressure on the roof of the mouth to grow the bone. And then they're transferred to soft foods, and then graduate to mac and cheese, and chicken nuggets and you know, even healthy food that's pureed, it doesn't put enough pressure on the bones to grow the jaw to the right size. And so really, it's just the tongue has no room. And it's, it's falling back and cutting off our airways as we're sleeping.
Janet Walker
So that's interesting. The conditions for sleep apnea develop as early as infancy not just when someone is 50 or 60. And overweight. Very interesting.
Lesia Crawford
Absolutely. Absolutely. There's also been a lot of studies, with children being misdiagnosed with ADHD, and they're not sleeping well. They're sleep deprived. And when the children are sleep deprived, because of their airway collapsing, they're hyperactive. And so they put them on medication instead of seeing what's going on. So sleep apnea isn't just a condition that affects older adults or even younger adults, but children are affected by sleep apnea as well. Yeah.
Janet Walker
And this is the first I've heard of that.
Lesia Crawford
Yeah. And you can see it now that you've made aware, I like when you buy a red car, all you see are red cars, right? So if you if you look at a child, and you see dark circles under the eyes, kind of drooping or a narrow face mouth breathing, you know that that look, chances are they have an airway problem in the face isn't, hasn't formed properly, and their airway is getting compromised, which is affecting the quality of the sleep, which is affecting their hormones and their cells and their growth. And you know that that snowball just goes down the hill. And leads of course, the other problems. I'm curious, just to take it all the way out is, you know, what is SIDS? Sudden, Infant Death Syndrome? Right? always happens when they're sleeping? Is there is there an airway issue? It's curious and, you know, breasts breastfeeding. I think as moms myself being a mom, you know, we try to do it try to do as long as we can. But you know, two years, kind of difficult for most of us and then have the baby bottle companies come up with new solutions to ensure that the tongue is getting trained the way it naturally would.
Janet Walker
So positioning of the baby we know is important to help prevent SIDS, that could possibly be an airway issue.
Lesia Crawford
Right. Right.
Janet Walker
Interesting. Well, what are some of the signs and symptoms of sleep apnea?
Lesia Crawford
That is a big question, and it affects everybody a little bit differently? Just some overall general things that you could you could look at yourself and say, Okay, well, do I have high blood pressure? Right? And is it hard to control? And do the doctors not really know why I have it? Typically, we can point to sleep at the end. Some other things would be hormone deficiencies. Men, for example, in their 30s Why do they have low testosterone? What's going on? You can point to the sleep because that's when the hormones are being released. You know, women men tired you know they're tired, they wake up and they still feel tired, they don't feel refreshed, ready to take on the day. napping during the day, dozing off those are definitely some symptoms that that people kind of brush off or you know, drink more coffee and Red Bull and figure out I'm getting older, I'm getting tired. But you know, that's not always the case. Things like there have problems with GERD, heartburn acid reflux, when you shut that airway off and the lungs are still trying to breathe, the stomach will start to do the Heimlich maneuver to try to get the time out of the way and open up your airway. And so you end up with heartburn GERD and acid reflux. So are you suffering from that? obvious one? I can't believe I haven't said it yet. snoring. And, you know snoring is typically a sign that there might be an airway issue. We're not supposed to make these noises. Right out of this open airway and the thing with snoring is it tends to really affect us socially. Patients and people's lives, right? We hear about sleep divorces. And so, you know, are you snoring and you’re banned to the couch or you know is your spouse snoring and, and, you know you're, you're at your wit's end trying to get a good night's sleep, those people end up having, I call it secondhand sleep apnea, right? Because they keep on getting well, right? Because they're snoring. And then they're grumpy because they're not getting their hormones that say, I'm happy and I want to get it can really affect a relationship? And, and unfortunately, a lot of people say, Well, I don't hear myself snoring. But it's a bigger problem than that. So snoring is definitely a big one. Heart issues, heart disease, stroke. You know, untreated sleep apnea will lead to heart disease and stroke, diabetes, having a hard time. You know, if you're pre diabetic, you know, you don't want to become diabetic and treating your sleep apnea certainly is going to help with that. So are you struggling with diabetes or are managing your diabetes? All night, if you have apnea, your brain is going through fight or flight and it's releasing adrenaline and cortisol, adrenaline and cortisol. So that's, that's another factor.
Janet Walker
So that can contribute to weight gain, which then contributes to apnea. So it's really a vicious cycle there.
Lesia Crawford
Yes, yes. And you know, weight gain that can't be explained, you know, your hormones and say, I'm hungry, and I'm full, they're released to leptin and ghrelin and released in your REM cycle. So it's important that we really protect the quality of our sleep, to ensure that our bodies we're doing everything in our sleep for us, you know, that we needed to do so. Great point, yeah. overweight, and when you're overweight, it gets worse. And so if we, if we can treat the apnea, yeah, that helps lose weight, and then the apnea you can can also improve? Those are, those are great roads to be on?
Janet Walker 12:25
Is there more than one type of sleep apnea?
Lesia Crawford
Yes, there are. Sleep Apnea itself is, again, a pausing of the breathing. Two types of apnea are called obstructive. And that's where the tongue is falling into the airway, and the back of the throat is sucking in and collapsing the airway. And either you have a full collapse of the airway. And it's categorized as lasting 10 seconds or longer, and your oxygen depleting three or 4% or more. And then we say ding, this is an obstructive APNEA event. The second type is a partial closure of your airway. And I like to explain that kind of like, imagine plugging your nose and breathing in and out of a coffee straw. And if that lasts for 10 seconds or longer, and your oxygen depletes that three or 4% or more thing, that's also a type of obstructive apnea. The third type is called Central. And that's a signaling issue. So the airway itself might be open, there's no obstruction, but the brain isn't sending the signal to the diaphragm to breathe, or it does send the signal to the diaphragm and the diaphragm isn't responding. So central apnea isn't as common, but is out there.
Janet Walker
So is it okay for someone to just ignore their sleep apnea symptoms? If they feel like they're functioning during the day at a level that's adequate for them? In other words, are there short term or long term dangerous to our health of untreated sleep apnea?
Lesia Crawford 14:11
Janet, I just love your questions. You're so good. There are people I see it every day. I'm very blessed to have this this position where I get to meet with people every day. And there are people with their apnea so bad. It is a miracle. They woke up that morning. And they'll sit in front of me and say, I feel fine. I you know, I don't have a problem. I will only here because my cardiologist sent me or my you know, my wife hates my snoring, but I think I'm fine. I was surprised they even have this thing. And their apnea is so bad that there's a really good chance they've had it since they were kids. Right and they that's what they know. What it what is it like asking somebody who was who was born you know? unable to walk? Well, what's it like not to walk? Well, they don't know, it's the same thing with an apnea patient that might have had it their whole life. And that's their normal, right? So symptomatically, they don't have any symptoms, but their blood pressure is out of control. They're, you know, they've had two strokes. And their doctors are saying, you're going to have another one. So symptomatically, the people who are worse, tend to have less physical symptoms that they can tell. And then what's going on with their body internally, meaning, you know, heart problems, you know, just the litany of medical issues, just skyrocket for those patients. And then the people that have mild sleep apnea, maybe seven episodes and maybe 10 episodes, there's some people that don't even have quote, unquote, apnea, they have upper airway resistance, they've never had this issue before. And maybe they are just going in getting into menopause, and their tissues are starting to be a little bit more lacks. So they never had an issue before and now they're just tired. And they're gonna say, well, it must be a hormone problem. So you know, of course, we want to treat the symptoms as well. How are you feeling? Right? So we, we want to treat both? All the apnea patients so to answer your question, just blatantly, do not ignore this. No, treat it no matter what. That's my final answer.
Janet Walker
Okay, listeners, you heard it here. If you suspect you have sleep apnea, talk to your doctor, and treat it. Okay. So we talked a little bit about some of the physical dangers of untreated sleep apnea. Are there any mental health issues that are connected with sleep apnea?
Lesia Crawford
Yes. Back to the hormones, you know, it can kind of snowball. So anybody with common sense, right? If I tell you that you're not getting your hormones released, properly, meaning all of all of your hormones that say I'm happy, right, you're going to, you're not going to feel as happy your serotonin is released during your deep REM sleep. And if you have an app, that sleep is disrupted, you're not getting the hormones that you need for you to go, Oh, I'm happy. And then sleep deprivation. apnea, again, disrupts the sleep. And it is like a diet. It's a cumulative night after night after night after night. And when you are feeling sleep deprived, you kind of be grumpy. Right? If you're sick about not everybody can relate. But you know, if you have children, and that that baby's brand new, and both you guys are sleep deprived, and we're just not getting enough sleep, oh, your fuse is short, right? Because you need right to write have our, our fuse, be longer and be able to go we can we can manage. So a lot of people with sleep apnea end up with diagnosis of depression. Another one, which is a lot of people say, Well, I'm not depressed, but I just have this anxiety, anxiety, anxiety. And to go back to the beginning of that, when I said you cut that airway off, and your subconscious brain realize that there's poison in the bloodstream, that carbon dioxide you should have exhaled is now in the bloodstream where the oxygen belongs. And your oxygen is dropping at the same time, your brain goes, Oh, my gosh, this is it. I'm dying, it hits that panic button, which is adrenaline and cortisol, and fight or flight is not meant for sleeping. Janet, there's a bear coming. Are we going to run? Are we going to fight the bear? Right? So throughout the night, you're running from a bear, your body's going through this stress of this fight or flight. And then during the day, they're feeling anxious, they're exactly that you know, all these things. And, you know, now they're on medication for anxiety. Where if we just do our best to stop this craziness in the middle of the night, and keep that airway open and keep that that brain going, Oh, everything's fine. Right. And you're not putting that stress of fight or flight that anxiety can dissipate. So absolutely sleep apnea is connected to those. Yes. Yep.
Janet Walker
Interesting, interesting that people may be on medications or being traded for depression or anxiety when the underlying cause is sleep deprivation. Very interesting. We talked a little bit about some of the risk factors. But I want to get back to that. What are the risk factors for sleep apnea? And is there a genetic component?
Lesia Crawford 20:40
Well, you know, there have linked sleep apnea genetically again, is it a genetic makeup? Or is it a physical anomaly? And you know, your face will look like your father's face, or your mother's face, right? So if your mother has a small jaw, your father has a small job, there's a chance you might as well so, so genetically, you know, yes, I can, that can play a part. As far as the risk factors. You know, obesity does play a part. You know, it's, it's a crowding of the airway and the weight of the neck. So it's, it's pretty disheartening for people that are overweight and are wanting to lose weight, and the doctor says we'll lose weight. Well, is apnea causing them to gain weight and making it almost impossible for them to lose weight? So no, the answer that could be absolutely, yes. So a lot of people think to well, I'm overweight, if I lose weight, the apnea will go away. And that's not always the case. You know, my husband's an ultra marathon trail runner, he has apnea. I was a competitive bodybuilder at one point, that's when my apnea and insomnia started in my late 20s. So it's not always, oh, I'm overweight, or I'm not overweight, therefore, I don't have it. So that one I want to be really specific with, yes, you can absolutely have sleep apnea if you're overweight, but it doesn't mean that if you're not overweight, that you don't have it. Other risk factors, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, you know, if you have a family history of those issues. And you say, well, your father died of a heart attack, your mother had a stroke, you know, did they snore? Did they sleep? Well? You know, that's a question. Did they find the apnea? In the mother or the father? Probably not. Right. So could it have? Could they have lived a longer life if they hadn't found a treated app? Yeah. Right. Possibility has Yes. Another one, which I think a lot of people, I think everybody I think this is pretty universal, I could say that nobody wants to end up with Alzheimer's, dementia, Parkinson's, right. Right. And if you're genetically disposed, you have family members, my grandfather actually passed away of Alzheimer's. And so I don't want that. And so it's important that we do everything we can to try to ensure that we don't end up with those conditions. And sleep apnea is absolutely linked to those conditions, because it has to do with the proteins in the brain. amyloid plaque and tau are the sticky white proteins that we all naturally build up in our brain. And during a healthy sleep cycle, throughout the night, the brain is getting a bath, we're washing those out. And so when there's a buildup, night after night, after night, after night of that cleaning cycle getting disrupted from apnea, those proteins will stay in there, and build and build and build and nobody will know what's happening until your 60s or 70s. And now we start showing those signs. And, again, if we found out when you were 2030, that you had apnea, and you treated it, could you not have Alzheimer's, dementia or Parkinson's, that the research is showing yet and that it's reversible? Right? Sleep is like diet. So every night we have a good night's sleep and the brain is functioning with cleaning out those plaques, they can start cleaning out so that's another risk factor, I'd say.
Janet Walker 24:12
So, what kinds of doctors treat sleep apnea? And when should someone consult with a sleep specialist? Or actually what question should a patient ask just their general physician so that they can get evaluated for sleep apnea?
Lesia Crawford
Well, Janet, if I had a magic wand, I would say that sleep testing would be across the board for everybody. There's there's not a lot of cost to it, especially with the Home sleep testing. So that that really shouldn't be a barrier for people and and it should be as common as EKG or blood testing to see if there's an issue with the sleep. But if people were going to just say, well, maybe I have sleep apnea. I would say, Do you snore? Are you told that you snore? Are there any witnessed? apneas? Do you have high blood pressure? Do you have diabetes? Are you overweight? Are you tired? Do you wake up tired? Are you going throughout the day saying, Oh, I can't wait till I get a nap. You know, those things aren't normal, you should wake up and feel rested and repaired and ready to take on the day. You know, I also hear from some patients to this. Well, I'm dealing with so many other health issues right now, I just don't want to worry about the sleep apnea. Like if your body is trying to heal, yes, you're yes, you're dealing with these health issues. I can't get my diabetes under control. My high blood pressure is through the roof. I just want to deal with that first, and then I'll worry about that sleep apnea. So Oh, no, no, no, no. To get that sleep apnea under control, and treated, and that will help get everything else on its way. Yes. Like you said, your body needs to be in a state of rest to repair. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So, you know, I would just say, as coarsely that, you know, ask for a sleep test and say you want to see if if there's any issues there.
Janet Walker
So a sleep test, either at a sleep center, or an at home sleep test is the way Sleep apnea is diagnosed? Correct?
Lesia Crawford
Yep. Your primary care physician, if you have a natural path, you see a nurse practitioner, anybody you could have that discussion with, and they should be able to refer you to, to sleep doctor to get sleep tested. Or there you could even, you know, again, if you're if you're looking at insurance, or things like that, but you know, you can reach out to a sleep physician directly, and then get an appointment for a consultation just to review what's going on. And if they think that you might have an underlying sleeping disorder, absolutely order that test. And then they can help manage you as well. With treatment.
Janet Walker
You mentioned earlier, something about well, even if you only have seven to 10 episodes, what do you mean by episodes? Is that part of the sleep test? Or the diagnosis?
Lesia Crawford
So when we have those events, so remember, as we said earlier, either you fully collapsed your airway or you partially collapsed your breathing, coffee straw, or that signal issue is happening. When they diagnose sleep apnea, they say, Well, if you're having five apneic events an hour or more, you officially have sleep apnea. And if it's between five and 15, that's mild, if it's 15, to 30 episodes an hour, that's moderate. And then 30 Plus is considered severe sleep apnea. That being said, you know, you really have to dive deeper into the studying with the patient. Because sometimes people have mild sleep apnea. And so episodes, let's say, are having seven apneic events an hour, they would be considered wild. But what kind of events? How long are they lasting? So I've seen with with discussing with patients, and they're looking at their sleep studies, let's give the example of seven episodes an hour, well, all seven of them are full collapses of the airway, and they're lasting over a minute and their oxygen is getting down into the 70s. Well, that's pretty severe.
Janet Walker
that's like stroke territory, isn't it?
Lesia Crawford
you took the words right out of my mouth, you are in stroke territory, right. And then there are people that have severe. And let's say they're having 35 apneic events or episodes an hour, but they're just just brief up and the oxygen never really goes below 90. And it's it's more of a disruption of the quality of sleep, but it's not really putting the body into that, that stroke category, like you said, so everybody's test needs to really be evaluated with the interval individual person and symptomatically. And then, you know, objectively with the test, what's going on, we're all different.
Janet Walker
Can we talk a little bit about what the tests are, like just kind of ease our listeners minds about having a test if they're nervous about getting tested? Let's start with the home test. What is the home test like?
Lesia Crawford
So there are several different manufacturers of home testing, but overall, they're quite simple. Some of them have a nasal cannula like you see The Young and the Restless, you know, they're in the hospital in a little, little box, you know, the brain of the test goes around a belt that goes on your chest. And then you have like a little finger sensor that's evaluating the heart rate and the oxygen level. And so that would be a very common home sleep test, they have come out with some newer technology, which is pretty incredible. There's some new readings that are out that literally, it's as easy as putting a ring on your finger, and slouching and that the data is, is pretty remarkable. The home sleep study is really an easy thing for most people to do. And you're in the comfort of your own home. So you're more likely to sleep in your own environment and get a better picture of what a regular night of sleep looks like for you. An in lab study, not everybody needs to have an in lab study. But you know, they're fascinating, because you're hooked up to so many wires, If your right eye blinks, they can tell it's really, really incredible the technology. But do you do sleep over the sleep lab, and they're really evaluating at a greater level. Everything from brainwaves and heart rate again, and oxygen levels. And then sometimes people have what's called a split night study where it happened in the middle of the night, they'll come in and put the CPAP on you. So you could try that as a therapy. So inlab is definitely a little bit more complex and an add home sleep test. And again, if the doctor feels well, let's just do a home test and see what's going on. And if it's warranted to have an in lab sleep study, then they certainly could order that for you as well. They can diagnose other sleep disorders with an in lab test as well. Is that correct that the home test really dials in sleep apnea. And then the inlab test, not only diagnose sleep apnea, but other sleep disorders. What typically the home sleep test is just dialing in on the sleep apnea, but they can also diagnose restless legs, periodical and movements, because you really are wired up so they can see what's going on with the whole body. They get a better view on the sleep pattern. So slow wave light and deep sleep versus that REM sleep that deep, deep reparative sleep. So the rest and the repair, they can really dial that in. The flip side to that is when you're in a lab, you might not feel like you're comfortable and get into a regular deep sleep like you normally would. So that's kind of the double edged sword of that in lab study. But it's certainly warranted for people and this Central's if that's, that's a component, we'll get a good, good indication of the Central's as well.
Janet Walker 33:26
So if someone's a heavy snore, or they have some of the other symptoms we discussed, what are some of the lifestyle changes that they can make starting right now until they're evaluated for sleep apnea and get treatment if they need it for sleep apnea. And I know that it's not a substitute for seeking professional diagnosis and treatment. But what are some of the things that people can do right now to start helping themselves if they have or if they're heading towards sleep apnea?
Lesia Crawford 33:56
Well, that's a great question. We haven't talked about this yet could positional sleep apnea. That means that when you are laying on your side, you don't have any apneic events, but when you roll over onto your back, the gravity pulls that job back and causes the event. So I would say if you're heavy snore and your bed partner knows, you wake them up and they hit you and nudge you to roll over. That's a good sign that sleeping on your side will be very beneficial. And just getting off of your back might be something you could do right away until you get tested.
Janet Walker 34:41
So yes, altering your sleep position is something that someone could do right now tonight. But what about a little longer term? What are some of the things that will help people either keep from developing sleep apnea or keep it from being as severe or just will influence better health with regard to their Sleep?
Lesia Crawford 35:01
Well, obviously, managing your weight and your exercise is important to, you know, a healthy sleep and of course, that that physical aspect of apnea where it can absolutely become worse, or you can get apnea because of weight gain. So maintaining a healthy diet, walking, getting some exercise will be extremely helpful to the health of your sleep, smoking, drug use, things like that, you know, medical marijuana is really popular these days. And it does help some people fall asleep, but it does affect the quality of your deep sleep. So I say if you can stay away from those, and alcohol is absolutely a huge factor when it comes to sleep apnea, it relaxes the muscles, especially if you're going if you're going to bed and you've had quite a few cocktails, and you do have apnea. It can, it can be twice as bad. If you're going to bed, drunk, essentially. And again, a lot of people have insomnia, so they drink to help them fall asleep, and stay asleep. And what they're doing is making things much more interesting. So you know, a glass of wine with dinner or something like that, not the end of the world. But if you drink a bottle of wine and have a six pack of beer before you go to bed, it will absolutely make that apnea worse, or you might not even have apnea unless you are consuming alcohol. Interesting.
Janet Walker 36:47
Lisa, this is such an important topic. And of course, we've talked about the symptoms, and diagnosis and risk factors. What we haven't talked about yet is treatment. In our next episode, we're going to talk a little bit about treatments. But most people think that CPAP machines, or even surgical intervention is the only option for treating sleep apnea. But that's not true, is it?
Lesia Crawford
No, I have a whole a whole business that's relying on an alternative. And the oral appliance is what we specialize in, which is an orthotic to maintain an open airway that well, we'll talk about it more hopefully, if you'll have me back.
Janet Walker
I'd love to have you back.
Lesia Crawford
Yeah, that's going to be the important part of this message is how can you treat it? And how can you treat it in a way that works with your, your lifestyle and your comfort? Right? I think one of the things that that really is the main barrier for people finding out if they have a sleep disorder, if they have sleep apnea or not, is what you just mentioned, they think CPAP is the only option. And they have a preconceived notion that they're not going to do the outerwear that so why find out if I'm not going to do anything about it. And if I could just impart one message, I'd say, Don't do that to yourself, let's find out. And if you don't have it, well, then you don't have to worry about it. Right. And if you do, they're more than just that, that CPAP option. And so there's a lot of people out like ourselves that are wanting to help people with their sleeping disorders. And we have a lot of options these days.
Janet Walker
Wonderful. So, so we can have you or someone from the Go To Sleep Center. Come back and just give us a real in depth look of that non invasive dental modality for treatment.
Lesia Crawford
Yes, yes. either myself or Dr. layman can join you and then dive into that. That'd be fun. Oh, terrific.
Janet Walker
Well, Lesia, thank you so much for being with us and educating us today. It's such an important topic for so many Americans.
Lesia Crawford
Thank you for having me. This was a real treat. Thanks, Janet.
Janet Walker
And listeners you can learn more about sleep apnea and how to diagnose and manage it at www.gotosleepcenter.com. If you're located in the Phoenix metro area, Go To Sleep Center has locations throughout the valley.
Janet Walker 39:26
Alright, well thank you so much everyone for listening to the Healthy Cells Healthy You Podcast with me, your host, Janet Walker. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts, subscribe and tell your friends together we'll build healthy cells and a healthy you.