Punjab: Harsimran Singh (30), a resident of Begowal, recently met with a serious accident while riding his motorcycle with his mother. He is said to have fallen asleep while driving, causing the bike to hit a pole. His mother suffered a fracture in her thigh bone. But, this was not the first time Harsimran was seen napping during an activity. Just last month, during a flight from Amritsar to Delhi, he continued to sleep even after the plane landed and all the passengers had disembarked. The crew had to wake him up. While travelling by train, metro or bus, he often misses his stop and also gets injured by bumping into walls or doors due to falling asleep while walking. Harsimran has been diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. Hoshiarpur teacher Maninder Singh is also in the same situation, although his condition is comparatively mild. He falls asleep as soon as he finishes his class and sits in the staff room. His wife, who works in the same school, says she often sees him sleeping in school and at home too. Sulekha, also from Jammu, describes herself as perpetually “sleep-starved”.
“I can fall asleep at any time of the day,” she says. “I avoid holding things in my hands because they tend to fall when I doze off. I have already damaged a few phones. Once, I got heat rashes on my legs when a hot cup of tea slipped from my hand. I try to finish kitchen work as quickly as possible because I start feeling sleepy soon after work.” At night, her husband complains of her loud snoring. She wakes up two to three times a night, often gasping for breath. “I get up, go to the washroom, drink some water, get back to bed and fall asleep again within a few minutes,” she says. Hospitals are seeing a growing queue of patients suffering from sleep disorders – especially obstructive sleep apnea. Dr H.J., a chest and sleep disorders specialist at Ranjit Hospital, advises her on the issue. “They all have common symptoms like excessive daytime sleepiness, loud snoring at night, rapid weight gain, heaviness in the neck and frequent chest or nasal congestion,” says Singh.
He adds that conditions like thyroid imbalance, asthma, fluctuations in blood pressure and cardiac problems can make sleep apnea even more severe. If left untreated, it can even lead to death in sleep due to breathlessness. “Our first advice to such patients is not to drive or engage in any risky work like using a cutter or hammer,” he warns. “If diagnosed early, most patients do not require medication. The most effective treatment is continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy at night. The CPAP machine uses a hose attached to a mask or nosepiece to deliver continuous and steady air pressure, helping the patient breathe while asleep. With regular use of the CPAP machine, patients start sleeping comfortably at night, feel active during the day and often lose weight within a week,” says Dr Singh. The diagnosis is made through a sleep test conducted on patients using a monitor. The patient is monitored overnight to track sleep patterns and treatment is recommended based on the results. Doctors also suggest that snoring should never be ignored, as it is more likely to manifest into sleep apnea.
