You Stopped Breathing In Your Sleep Two Million Times? Huh?

[roster]

In his forthcoming book, Dr. Mack Jones estimates how many sleep apneas he had over the years.

I thought I would make a rough estimate of mine for perverse fun (Yes, I am a cheap date). I will make a very conservative (low end) estimate.

I started CPAP treatment at age 57. I am sure by age 24 I already had sleep apnea so that is 33 years untreated. My PSG at age 57 showed 57 apneas per hour and I slept 5 hours. Let's assume those numbers are typical for my at home sleeping habits. 365 days x 5 hours of sleep x 57 apneas per hour = 104,025 apneas per year.

Let's assume at age 24 I was sleeping 7 hours per night and having 5 apneas per hour. That is 365 days x 7 hours x 5 apneas = 12,775 apneas per year.

Now lets assume there was a straight line progression of the disease as I age. That would mean over the 33 years, I averaged (104,025 + 12,775)/2 = 58,400 apneas per year. Now take that times 33 years and I had 1,927,200 apneas!

Two million apneas low estimate. I did not even count hypopneas. No wonder my brain is mush!

What is your lifetime apnea count?

[mdbarthe]

I'm getting sleepy just thinking about the math involved..........

[alnhwrd]

What kind of prize does the person with the highest number get?

[Arkangel]

Chuck Norris once stopped his own breathing 100,000 times in one night just to keep his stalking skills honed. Then he took a nap for 30 minutes to make sure he never needed to sleep again. That is why Chuck doesn't sleep..He waits.

Just kidding. I think mine started when I got to 260 pounds that was about a year ago.

[DreamStalker]

Prize? What prize?

At age 46 Dx w/ 99 apneas per hour. Was told I snored severely at age 22. That's 24 years of undiagnosed OSA. Assume same as the rooster of initial 5 apenas per hour at age 22. That's average of 52 apneas per hour over 24 years times 365 days per year times 8 hours per day (I've always slept about 8 ) ....

That's 3,644,160 apneas ! ... and w/o counting hypops too

Woo hoo !!! ... what did I win?

My brain is mushier the the rooster's ... I finally beat him at his own game

[Kiralynx]

I only snored when I had allergies.

However, I had the beginnings of the hip pain which led to my being diagnosed in 2008 back when I was 30, in 1982, and only weighed 130 pounds.

Ironically, that hip pain did not exacerbate when my weight went out of control after a back injury. Not even when I was up over 400 pounds.

When the hip pain hit me fer shure was in June of 2002, after I had lost the first 75 pounds of the (currently) 180 that I've lost.

Mine was moderate -- a mere 16 an hour, doubling or tripling in REM sleep.

But just to KISS (and because math was always my worst subject), figure that 16 x 8 hours = 128 a night x 365 = 46720 x 6.5 = 303680, for a mere one-third of a million.

However, if I want to go back and calculate REM sleep, I probably qualify for the million apnea club, too.

[kteague]

When I worked in the hospital lab, at some point they didn't even try and just said TNTC - Too Numerous To Count. A part of me wants to start calculating, but the rest of me has to say they are TNTC. But in general, this awareness certainly makes me feel I've done quite well thru the years against incredible odds.

Hey, didn't anyone tell Chuck Norris that Walker, Texas Ranger was just a TV show?

[Arkangel]

Hey, didn't anyone tell Chuck Norris that Walker, Texas Ranger was just a TV show?

Just trying to add a bit comedy to all these serious posts. It won't happen again.

[roster]

Prize? What prize?

At age 46 Dx w/ 99 apneas per hour. Was told I snored severely at age 22. That's 24 years of undiagnosed OSA. Assume same as the rooster of initial 5 apenas per hour at age 22. That's average of 52 apneas per hour over 24 years times 365 days per year times 8 hours per day (I've always slept about 8 ) ....

That's 3,644,160 apneas ! ... and w/o counting hypops too

Woo hoo !!! ... what did I win?

My brain is mushier the the rooster's ... I finally beat him at his own game

If you can do the math, you don't qualify for the swell prizes.

[Raj]

Appalling statistics, folks, but there is a bright side: think how many times you resumed breathing.

[packitin]

deleted

[DreamStalker]

Your mathematics is off a little. It would be more of a natural logistic curve. Using differential equations, and the initial conditions, with the assumption that you began cpap and that drastically reduced the apneas starting at the age given, the equation would probably look something like this:

y = 30+8(x - 25) * e^[-.089x - 25)

This curve reaches its maximum at 38 (of 67 apneas), then decreases slowly and then levels out (inflection point at about 59) and slowly decreases as x approaches infinity. You can graph it on a calculator and see its primary attirbutes.

Taking the integral from age 25 to age 60, we have: (after multiplying by 366 to adjust to days):

734,070
(this is a more realistic number.)
Your mathematician buddy,
Jay

But I'd still win right?

[LinkC]

According to my calculations, I haven't breathed since I was 27.

(But I never was very good at math...)

[roster]

.......as x approaches infinity. .......Jay

It is getting close. I told my wife to make sure she doesn't let my term life insurance policy lapse.

[sagesteve]

I started CPAP treatment at age 60. I am sure by age 18 I already had sleep apnea so that is 42 years untreated. My PSG at age 60 showed 98 apneas per hour and I slept 5 hours. Let's assume those numbers are typical for my at home sleeping habits. 365 days x 5 hours of sleep x 98 apneas per hour = 178,850 apneas per year.

Let's assume at age 18 I was sleeping 7 hours per night and having roughly 7 apneas per hour. That is 365 days x 7 hours x 7 apneas = 17,885 apneas per year.

Now lets assume there was a straight line progression of the disease as I age. That would mean over the 42 years, I averaged (178,850 + 17,885)/2 = 98,367.5 apneas per year. Now take that times 42 years and 4,131,435 apneas later!!

And I sure as hell felt like it!! No wonder I was always tired AND I was an Olympic athlete. From age 19 to 26 I would work
32 hour days ( you read right) some times after a day I would go home and get only 2 hours sleep! I put in a FULL career lifetime in those 7 years, I was in la la land. I could never understand why being in such great physical shape that I always felt tired???!!!! Notice how I used the boiler plate?
I used to use my fingers in math class too. ( PS, if my math is wrong, don't blame me, it's the apneas!!!! ).