Return to deep sleep.

Limestone · Post by **Limestone** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 7:36 pm

I have been hanging around now for 3 weeks(spent the last 2 trying to figure out how to post) and your posts have really helped me better understand my therapy and make educated choices for myself, but what has helped me most is finding a group of individuals who understand the suffering we have all gone through to get to this point in our treatment .Thank you all and keep up the good work.

I began Cpap treatment for mild OSA in late August of this year and feel that I am seeing some slow improvement. A previous study 8 yrs ago put it down to being over weight and a deviated septum, so I have been untreated for at least that long. My (new) sleep Doc explained to me that OSA is much worse in the deep stages of sleep and your brain deals with this by not allowing me to advance to sleep stages 3 and 4.
My question is does controlling your apnea events (through cpap therapy) automatically allow you to return to these deep sleep stages or is there a relearning process that takes place that may account for the slow but steady progress I am making and not the overnight success of some others I have read about? Any thoughts on this?
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Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 8:23 pm

Limestone,

Welcome to the forum! It's nice to see more new folks here.

My answer to your question would be a qualified "Yes" (all things being equal). The fewer disturbances should allow you to to reach the deeper sleep stages and REM for longer periods.
The "recovery" period varies widely for us, so it's difficult to make generalizations. For some there's an immediate feeling of recovery, but for many of us it's more gradual. The fact that you say you feel you're making progress, is a great sign.

Hang in there and best wishes,

Den

curtcurt46 · Post by **curtcurt46** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 8:53 pm

I believe it's a definite yes, but it depends on each individual. Now that I am on regular therapy (45days)each night I dream as I have never before. Each day it seems to get better from the perspective of feeling refreshed and rested after a nights sleep.

Best of luck with your deep sleep quest.

Snoredog · Post by **Snoredog** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 9:02 pm

I agree with wulfman, yes you can return to deep sleep if cpap therapy is what prevents the SDB arousals that kick you out of deep sleep and prevent you from reaching REM.

My understanding is deep sleep is thought to be where you obtain most of the restorative effects of sleep. They are not exactly sure but REM also plays a big role in that.

Everyone is a bit different but you progress through the stages similar to below (not everyone goes in sequence), you can see why Stage2 is usually higher and REM periods increase as the night progresses where you have more REM in the early morning hours. Deep sleep comes at the early part of the night and tapers off.

When you have arousals from SDB events like in deep sleep or REM it can bounce you back to one of the earlier stages. This is why when you have a PSG and they list out the various stages of sleep (or should anyway).

Limestone · Post by **Limestone** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 7:16 am

Thanks all

This is the only place I have been able to get an answer to this question without waiting 3 months to pose it to the sleep doc.
Snoredog ,great visual! I think I'm starting to get it.