Sleep apnea is a very serious medical condition that many people suffer from. When people have this condition, they actually stop breathing for extended periods of time while they sleep. This usually causes a person to awaken with a snore. This condition can lead to some very serious health conditions such as a lack of short-term memory, depression, severe head-aches, and mental illness.
Thankfully there is a way to combat this illness. It is to use the assistance of sleep apnea machines. Currently, there are several different kinds of sleep apnea devices that are used to help people with this condition. These devices are known as CPAP, BiPAP, APAP, and OAT.
CPAP stands for continuous positive airway pressure. CPAP is a device used with a mask that is worn as a patient slumbers. A CPAP mask works by blowing highly pressurized air into a person's breathing tract. This causes the breathing tract to remain open. In turn, it prevents sleep apnea from occurring.
However, CPAP has certain drawbacks. The biggest of these drawbacks is the fact that a person must use muscles to exhale against the pressure created by the air blown by the machine. Using these kinds of muscles to exhale can be very difficult for certain people who suffer from diseases that affect muscle power and the lungs.
As a solution, a new technology known as BiPAP was developed. The "Bi" in the name of the machine refers to the fact that that it has two separate settings for air pressure. It can blow air at one pressure when someone inhales and at another pressure when someone exhales. This allows people with certain muscle and lung conditions to use the device and breathe normally during the night.
While the most prominent types are CPAP and BiPAP machines, there are other kinds of devices used to treat this condition as well. One of these is APAP. APAP is an improvement on the technology of CPAP. In this case, the first "A" in the name APAP stands for automatic. This machine was designed to address the fact that certain patients would benefit from different levels of air-pressure being applied at different points in the night. This device can automatically adjust settings so just the right amount of pressure is always applied to keep the airways open.
Lastly, there is OAT. OAT stands for oral appliance therapy. This is a commonly used sleep apnea device. However, it is not actually a machine. Instead OATs are non-mechanical devices that are placed inside the mouth during sleep. They force the jaw to move forward. This forces the airways to stay open so a patient can breathe during the night.
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