研究表明，減少舌頭上的脂肪可以改善睡眠呼吸暫停情況

研究表明，減少舌頭上的脂肪可以改善睡眠呼吸暫停情況

Have you ever asked yourself: Do I have a fat tongue?

你有沒有問過自己：我的舌頭胖嗎?

It's not a idle query. If you are one of the one billion people globally who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea, having a fat tongue could be a key reason you snore, choke, gasp or stop breathing periodically during the night, ruining your sleep and potentially your health.

這不是一個沒用的問題。如果你是全球10億患有阻塞性睡眠呼吸暫停癥的人之一，那么舌頭發(fā)胖可能是你在夜間周期性打鼾、窒息、喘氣或停止呼吸的一個關(guān)鍵原因，會破壞你的睡眠，并可能損害你的健康。

"The question then was if you reduce the fat in your tongue, does that improve your sleep apnea? And the answer from our paper is 'yes,' " said Penn Medicine sleep specialist Dr. Richard Schwab, the lead author of a new study published Friday in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

“問題是，如果你減少了舌頭上的脂肪，會改善你的睡眠呼吸暫停情況嗎?賓夕法尼亞大學(xué)醫(yī)學(xué)睡眠專家理查德·施瓦布博士說，我們論文的答案是“是的”，他是星期五發(fā)表在《美國呼吸與危重病醫(yī)學(xué)雜志》上的一項新研究的主要作者。

Obesity is a key risk factor for the condition. A previous study by Schwab and his team had found obese people with obstructive sleep apnea had considerably larger tongues with higher percentages of tongue fat than obese people without the condition.

肥胖是這種疾病的一個關(guān)鍵危險因素。施瓦布和他的團隊在之前的一項研究中發(fā)現(xiàn)，患有阻塞性睡眠呼吸暫停的肥胖者的舌頭要比非阻塞性睡眠呼吸暫停的肥胖者大得多，舌脂含量也更高。

The new study found you can trim down your fatty tongue as you lose overall body fat.

這項新研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，當你失去全身脂肪時，你可以削減你的多脂肪舌頭。

"This study shows reducing excess fat in general can reduce tongue size," said Dr. Raj Dasgupta, a sleep specialist at Keck Medicine at the University of Southern California, who was not involved in the study.

南加州大學(xué)凱克醫(yī)學(xué)的睡眠專家拉杰·達斯古普塔博士沒有參與這項研究，他說:“這項研究表明，總體上減少多余脂肪可以減小舌頭的大小。”

"In fact, the more tongue fat you lost, the more your apnea improved," said Schwab, who is the co-director of the Penn Sleep Center at Penn Medicine.

“事實上，你減掉的舌脂肪越多，你的呼吸暫停就越好，”賓夕法尼亞大學(xué)醫(yī)學(xué)院睡眠中心的聯(lián)席主任施瓦布說。

Costs of sleep apnea

睡眠呼吸暫停的代價

Obstructive sleep apnea, called OSA, is dangerous to one's health. lt can damage the brain's white matter, raise blood pressure, contribute to depression and heighten the risk for heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

阻塞性睡眠呼吸暫停，又稱OSA，對人的健康是危險的。它會損害大腦的白質(zhì)，升高血壓，導(dǎo)致抑郁，增加心臟病、中風和糖尿病的風險。

In America, where approximately 30 million people have obstructive sleep apnea, the cost to society in lost productivity, accidents and health care is estimated to be $150 billion a year, according to a studycommissioned by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

美國睡眠醫(yī)學(xué)學(xué)會委托進行的一項研究顯示，在美國，約有3000萬人患有阻塞性睡眠呼吸暫停，生產(chǎn)力的下降、事故和醫(yī)療保健每年給社會造成的損失估計高達1500億美元。

Diagnosing and treating every American could save more than $100 billion each year, the study said.

該研究稱，診斷和治療每個美國人每年可以節(jié)省1000多億美元。