Sydney, New South Wales -- (ReleaseWire) -- 08/01/2012 --CPAP is short for the term “ Continuous Positive Airway Pressure”. CPAP is the gold standard in treatment for the condition of sleep apnea. Sleep A pnea is when the airway closes during sleep and has major implications for someone’s life. The symptoms of sleep apnea are snoring, continuous wakening, daytime fatigue and also has long term effects such as hypertension. CPAP works by creating a pneumatic splint in someone’s upper airway which keeps the airway open. Depending upon the severity of the condition and the patient’s anatomy the pressure will vary between each individual.

When a person goes to sleep the muscle tone is reduced and their airways become prone to collapse. This leads to a person having reduced oxygenation and the brain experiences minor arousals in the brain wave activity. The level of CPAP pressure needed to keep the airway open is determined in a sleep study and then set on a CPAP device. This will deliver the pressure through the night and the patient’s airway will not collapse. The benefits of CPAP usage is immense as the patient will no longer experience collapsing airways and the brain wave activity will be normalised. This means they get more of the quality sleep such as slow wave and REM sleep. The short term benefits to the customer is a better quality of sleep and hence no daytime fatigue whilst the long term effects can be reduced blood pressure.

There are 2 varieties of CPAP devices with one variety being fixed pressure CPAP and the other Automatic CPAP. A fixed pressure CPAP will deliver one pressure all night and ensures the airway is opened. The automatic CPAP units vary the pressure according to the patient’s needs. When apneas, hypopneas or snoring occurs the machine will detect this and increase the pressure to prevent this. The obvious benefit is the patient may have periods where lower pressures are needed such as non- supine sleeping or non- REM sleep and overall it may enhance comfort. CPAP is delivered to the patient via a mask and the key to good compliance is ensuring the person uses the best mask for their needs. There are a variety of masks but they can be classified into Full Face Masks for mouth breathers, Nasal Masks or Nasal direct masks.

CPAP is considered the first line of treatment for sleep apnea and should be tried before other forms of treatment are considered, contact this website for more information http://www.cpap-online.com.au