What is Sleep Disordered Breathing (SDB)?
Sleep Disordered Breathing (SDB) is a term that describes a spectrum of conditions that have to do with upper airway collapsibility. An important function of sleep is to allow our body to rest and repair itself, this includes our muscles. The muscles of the upper airway (throat and base of tongue) are basically a flexible tube that relaxes when we sleep, this occurs in everyone. Problems arise when our airways collapse more than they should making it difficult to breath. In some instances the airway collapses completely cutting off our oxygen, this is called apnea (Latin for without breath) and leads to a host of problems including the life threatening condition we call sleep apnea. Or in most situations the airway is only partially collapsed this is known as a hypopnea. Narrowing of the airway partial or complete during sleep becomes problematic because we need the same volume or amount of air when we sleep as when awake. This narrowing can occur from the tip of your nose to your voca
