Followup on my TEDx talk
My TEDx talk on “Why you wake up at night?” frequently brings comments from individuals who remain very skeptical about the relationship between sleep breathing disruption and insomnia. The most common responders declare, “there’s nothing wrong with my breathing, I just wake up at night.”
Recently, I responded to these skeptics with the following comment:
“We have always found it extremely ironic that insomniacs or other poor sleepers report there is nothing wrong with their breathing, to which we ask a simple question: "how could you know what your breathing is doing while sleeping?" Then, the individual declares, "but I don't snore and nobody says I stop breathing at night!" So, let's be very clear what we mean about sleep breathing. If I were sitting in a chair next to your bed all night long listening to your breathing, the chances are less than 10% that I could accurately gauge whether or not you suffer from a sleep breathing disorder. In other words, specific respiratory sensors combined with brain sensors are necessary to not only measure subtle changes in breathing but also to measure not so subtle changes in the EEG (brain waves). When these respiratory changes frequently trigger arousal activity in your brain, a sleep breathing disorder has been scientifically diagnosed. Treating the sleep breathing irregularity often reduces much of the arousal activity in the brain and consequently decreases many insomnia symptoms. Breathe well, Sleep well!”