“Unfortunately, in Pakistan, Sleep Apnea is an under-diagnosed disease. Sleep itself is a vital sign, like pulse is a vital sign so it has a rhythm. Sleep is an arithmetic process that goes regularly in our body. So, why our body requires Sleep, it is an important question. A normal person spends 1/3rd of his life while sleeping. During sleep, two main organs, brain and muscles require relaxation so that it could regain the energy for next day physical & mental activities. The most common symptom of this disease is Snoring, unfortunately, in our setup snoring is considered healthy which is not true in all the cases. Snoring with pause is called apnea and it’s very common in our society. Bedpartner is the focal person who identifies if the patient snores or not? Other common symptom is obesity which may lead to unhealthy snore. Sleep Apnea is the mother of metabolic syndrome as progression of multiple co-morbidities are affiliated with it like diabetes, hypertension, and other cardiovascular diseases. Timely diagnosis is pivotal for management of Sleep Apnea, so as sleep specialist, my advice is to opt for early diagnosis if patients and their caretakers identifies that they’ve apparent symptoms like unhealthy snoring and obesity.”
Associate Professor of Pulmonology, Director Sleep Research LabLahore General Hospital, Lahore
