Is Sleep Apnea (OSA) An OH&S Issue?
Over the years more symptoms, conditions and diseases are attributed to OSA.
Just over twenty years ago a coroner would simply state the cause of death as "cardiac arrest" on a death certificate.
With the advancement of medical science, health professionals are more likely to seek a cause for the cardiac arrest as they witness similar medical problems in their patients prior to their death.
If you have high blood pressure and you are overweight, you may also have OSA but this did not happen from one day to the next.
You would have recognized some symptoms first such as the loudness of your snoring may have increased or perhaps you find yourself being less motivated and/or tired.
A good physician would send you off to a specialist and a sleep test would be on the cards.
With most men having issues in relation to seeing a doctor, the situation may just worsen.
Us males are tough and survive a lot of different things but strokes and cardiac arrest that could be the result of untreated OSA are a serious matter that no one should ignore.
What ever you do, do not leave it untreated as your quality of life is definitely impaired and your days may also be numbered In Australia you would have heard of Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S).
What it means is that whenever you enter a work site or place, your employer is required by law to show you not only the work task at hand and the location of the coffee pot, but also instruct you on the safety gear that must be worn and procedures that need to be followed to protect yourself, your co-workers and any bystanders.
If a worker sees any danger he or she either has a duty to remove it or notify the work place safety officer of the danger.
The area may be closed off if necessary and the danger removed.
This is followed by preparing reports of the problem, how it was rectified and what preventative measures have been put into place so that the incident does not reoccur.
All of these procedures must be recorded.
Consuming alcohol before showing up for work too is not acceptable.
On most Australian building sites, having a drink at lunch time is taboo.
I personally know of a site supervisor who had zero tolerance and if one of his laborers even went near a pub at lunch time, whether he or she consumed alcohol or not, they would be sent straight home with a warning.
That was before the existence of breathalysers.
If you saw a work mate turning up to work drunk, it would be your responsibility to inform your supervisor and appropriate discipline would be handed out.
Think of a drunken taxi driver or heart surgeon trying to perform his daily tasks after a heavy night the night before.
It is commonly known that sleep deprivation has the same symptoms as being under the influence of alcohol and being over the limit.
The ability to judge different situations is significantly impaired and concentration is diminished.
Sleep deprivation is also a direct result of OSA.
If you leave your OSA untreated you will most certainly suffer from excessive day tiredness and a lack of concentration.
Further your health as well as the life of others can be in danger.
I can think of many professionals I would not like to go near if they were suffering from untreated OSA.
Some of these would definitely include taxi drivers, drivers of heavy machinery or cranes, workers on a building site or a person who has to make quick decisions such as a stockbroker or manager.
It is believed that sleep deprivation is the cause of many truck and car accidents.
Think of the recent micro-sleep warning ads on TV.
And yet, OSA is not even near the top of the list as being an OH&S issue and no testing is proposed in the immediate future.
At the moment, nobody can really be forced by law to observe better health practices.
It is of great concern though, if other people are put in danger due to your action or lack of it.
Have YOU ever thought of endangering YOUR wife/husband, children, family and friends? Nevertheless OH&S may need to introduce some stringent tests for some occupations to make sure the greater public is not put at risk.
Test for these seem already be in place for train and truck drivers or airline pilots.
Although there is no cure for OSA, the treatment of it may be as simple as changing your lifestyle by including good and healthy eating habits and some regular exercise.
If you are overweight, you may be particularly at risk and may need some time to get your weight back to normal; time which you may not have.
In a soon to follow three part series I will provide information treatments for OSA like he CPAP (Constant Positive Airway Pressure), MAS (mandibular Advancement Splints) and VDP (Velumount Palatal Devices) Your immediate solution may lie in one of these that could get your life back to normal almost instantly but do they actually work? Is the cost justified and how effective are they? It would be fair to ask for some results of medical studies to confirm their success.
Although the availability of VPD's seems to be limited to Europe and now Australia and as a palatal device, requires an individual fitting by qualified trained persons.
Just over twenty years ago a coroner would simply state the cause of death as "cardiac arrest" on a death certificate.
With the advancement of medical science, health professionals are more likely to seek a cause for the cardiac arrest as they witness similar medical problems in their patients prior to their death.
If you have high blood pressure and you are overweight, you may also have OSA but this did not happen from one day to the next.
You would have recognized some symptoms first such as the loudness of your snoring may have increased or perhaps you find yourself being less motivated and/or tired.
A good physician would send you off to a specialist and a sleep test would be on the cards.
With most men having issues in relation to seeing a doctor, the situation may just worsen.
Us males are tough and survive a lot of different things but strokes and cardiac arrest that could be the result of untreated OSA are a serious matter that no one should ignore.
What ever you do, do not leave it untreated as your quality of life is definitely impaired and your days may also be numbered In Australia you would have heard of Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S).
What it means is that whenever you enter a work site or place, your employer is required by law to show you not only the work task at hand and the location of the coffee pot, but also instruct you on the safety gear that must be worn and procedures that need to be followed to protect yourself, your co-workers and any bystanders.
If a worker sees any danger he or she either has a duty to remove it or notify the work place safety officer of the danger.
The area may be closed off if necessary and the danger removed.
This is followed by preparing reports of the problem, how it was rectified and what preventative measures have been put into place so that the incident does not reoccur.
All of these procedures must be recorded.
Consuming alcohol before showing up for work too is not acceptable.
On most Australian building sites, having a drink at lunch time is taboo.
I personally know of a site supervisor who had zero tolerance and if one of his laborers even went near a pub at lunch time, whether he or she consumed alcohol or not, they would be sent straight home with a warning.
That was before the existence of breathalysers.
If you saw a work mate turning up to work drunk, it would be your responsibility to inform your supervisor and appropriate discipline would be handed out.
Think of a drunken taxi driver or heart surgeon trying to perform his daily tasks after a heavy night the night before.
It is commonly known that sleep deprivation has the same symptoms as being under the influence of alcohol and being over the limit.
The ability to judge different situations is significantly impaired and concentration is diminished.
Sleep deprivation is also a direct result of OSA.
If you leave your OSA untreated you will most certainly suffer from excessive day tiredness and a lack of concentration.
Further your health as well as the life of others can be in danger.
I can think of many professionals I would not like to go near if they were suffering from untreated OSA.
Some of these would definitely include taxi drivers, drivers of heavy machinery or cranes, workers on a building site or a person who has to make quick decisions such as a stockbroker or manager.
It is believed that sleep deprivation is the cause of many truck and car accidents.
Think of the recent micro-sleep warning ads on TV.
And yet, OSA is not even near the top of the list as being an OH&S issue and no testing is proposed in the immediate future.
At the moment, nobody can really be forced by law to observe better health practices.
It is of great concern though, if other people are put in danger due to your action or lack of it.
Have YOU ever thought of endangering YOUR wife/husband, children, family and friends? Nevertheless OH&S may need to introduce some stringent tests for some occupations to make sure the greater public is not put at risk.
Test for these seem already be in place for train and truck drivers or airline pilots.
Although there is no cure for OSA, the treatment of it may be as simple as changing your lifestyle by including good and healthy eating habits and some regular exercise.
If you are overweight, you may be particularly at risk and may need some time to get your weight back to normal; time which you may not have.
In a soon to follow three part series I will provide information treatments for OSA like he CPAP (Constant Positive Airway Pressure), MAS (mandibular Advancement Splints) and VDP (Velumount Palatal Devices) Your immediate solution may lie in one of these that could get your life back to normal almost instantly but do they actually work? Is the cost justified and how effective are they? It would be fair to ask for some results of medical studies to confirm their success.
Although the availability of VPD's seems to be limited to Europe and now Australia and as a palatal device, requires an individual fitting by qualified trained persons.
