Study Focuses on Link Between Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Melatonin

With obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), the patient's upper airway is blocked, which can cause the patient to experience several pauses per hour. This situation, in which the unchanged volume of the lungs doesn’t allow air to come in and go out because the lung has to expand and contract for a balanced flow of air, is very dangerous and can even cause the patient to have cardiac issues later on in life. This is due to the accumulation of CO2 in the blood and a lack of oxygen. The excess CO2 diffused into the blood causes the pH level of the blood to fall, and makes the blood slightly acidic.

This medical condition, however, is dependent on how much the airways are blocked, and may not lead to total obstruction of the flow of air into the lungs, which means that the exchange of gases between the lungs and the environment is not affected, and cellular respiration is also not affected. Now, this should not be mistaken to be common in all obstructive sleep apnea patients. The disease is more likely to have severe consequences, and it is rare for patients to experience little or mild effects.