As with obstructive sleep apnea, the sleeper stops breathing for long periods of time, then resumes with a gasp. Often the person forgets to inhale, but, in some cases, he or she forgets to exhale and appears to be holding the breath.
A previous article of mine, written in 2001, told of a study done at UCLA identified the small group of brain cells believed to originate and control breathing in mammals. Now UCLA has taken this research even further.
They have discovered clues as to why some people die during sleep. They claim a gradual loss of brain cells in the area that affects breathing triggers central sleep apnea.
In this latest study they injected rats with a compound that killed cells in this area. When the rats entered REM sleep (rapid eye movement sleep,} the phase where dreaming takes place, they stopped breathing for short periods of time. These lapses gradually increased until they simply never woke up.
Humans possess a few thousand of these cells, and, over time, the cells gradually die and are never replaced. This eventually disrupts breathing patterns and causes the condition we know as central sleep apnea.
Some medications, including anti-depressants and possibly klonopin, have shown some promise. CPAP doesn't seem to help much, although the use of oxygen may help in some cases.
A far more serious disorder is a combination of obstructive and central sleep apnea. In these cases, both an obstruction of the airways and a neurological malfunction combine that's difficult to treat.
