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Ben Greenfield Life

A Hidden Sleep Killer That Flies Under The Radar (And What You Can Do About It).

May 16, 2015
53:08

A few weeks ago, I received an interesting email from a podcast listener, who cryptically stated...

..."you could improve sleep also by a simple screening of oximetry to rule out OSA in your adrenal fatigue clients. 30% of OSA patients have OSA unrelated to obesity. Me included and I am 9% body fat. Just something to consider since you are doing a lot of cool but out of the box sleep recommendations. This coming from a fan and a board certified sleep specialist."

I have to admit that I did not, off the top of my head, even recall what OSA was, and that it had been some time since I'd personally used a little finger pulse oximeter to measure my blood oxygen saturation. I was also intrigued about the fact that many people who don't sleep well, are constantly tired, or experience adrenal fatigue don't seem to know about this issue, so I asked him what he meant.

He wrote back and clarified:

"Relating to OSA, I was referring to Obstructive Sleep Apnea Hypopnea Syndrome. I like a more accurate description "sleep suffocation". The issue is totally ignored by Primary Care Physicians, let alone the guys that should be investigating it which should be the cardiologists. 30 percent of OSA patients have no obesity contributing to the problem but have craniofacial development deficiencies. The other 70 percent or so end up developing "sleep suffocation" as obesity sets in. Nearly 80 percent of moderate and severe OSA cases are undiagnosed. This is the lion's share of water that sleep specialists deal with every day. The insomnia cases, ASPS, DSPS, jet lag, RLS, PLMD, narcolepsy and the other sleep disorders take a back seat to this OSA issue. You can't address sleep issues thoroughly without thoughtful discussion regarding OSA."

Wow. Now that's something that needed some further digging, so I decided to get this guy on the podcast. His name is Dr. Joseph Zelk and he is the Medical Director of the Sleep Medicine Group, which you'll learn more about in this show. In this episode, you'll also discover:

-Why many sleep monitoring devices and wearables simply aren't accurate, and how you should really be measuring your sleep...

-What a sleep cycle should really look like when it comes to deep sleep vs. light sleep...

-Why you should use a pulse oximeter upon waking, and what can it tell you...

-How you get OSA, especially if you're a lean active person who eats healthy...

-Why more people don't know about OSA, especially physicians...

-What you can do to fix OSA...

-Are there ways/technologies to measure pulse oximetry all night while you're sleeping?

-Which nutrient deficiencies can cause this issue...

-And much more!

Resources we discuss in this episode:

-The Sleep Medicine Group

-The MyBasis watch

-Pulse oximeters that can measure oximetry while you're asleep

-Superhuman Encoder bracelet

Do you have questions, comments or feedback about this hidden sleep killer that flies under the radar? Leave your thoughts at BenGreenfieldFitness.com!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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