Do you snore when you sleep? Veteran actor Chao Shun remembers sleeping over at a friend’s place one night when he was 26, snoring so loudly that it woke up the neighbors living on the floor above. At the time, he laughed and dismissed it as insignificant. In recent years, however, Chao has been suffering from high blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels. He also had a stroke, is on dialysis, feels bloated and falls asleep during the day, so after getting checked out just before the Lunar New Year and learning the shocking news that he experiences as many as 170 apneas, or pauses in breathing, every hour when sleeping, which could lead to sudden death, he decided to undergo treatment.
Lin Chia-mo, president of the Taiwan Society of Sleep Medicine (TSSM), says that apart from the daytime, sleeping at night is also crucially important when treating chronic diseases. People with sleep apnea do not sleep well, causing excitation in the sympathetic nervous system and hypoxia, which counteracts the body’s regulation of chronic diseases related to blood sugar levels and blood pressure.
TSSM used sleep research questionnaires that are commonly used internationally to survey 1,068 adults between the age of 20 and 60. The results showed that 68 percent of them snore during sleep, while more than half of them thought that snoring is just a part of life. Only 20 percent were aware that snoring is related to sleep apnea.
Photo courtesy of Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital
照片由新光吳火獅紀念醫院提供
Sleep apnea usually occurs in tandem with other more fatal conditions. Compared with the average person, a person suffering from sleep apnea is seven times more likely to have a car accident, three times more likely to have unstable blood pressure, 1.6 times more prone to have a stroke, and 2.4 times more likely to suffer congestive heart failure, says a recent study in the top medical journal The Lancet.
Lin suggests that you should take a sleeping test to better understand your situation if you snore or are not sleeping well. If you have sleep apnea, you can then choose the most appropriate treatment and get out of the vicious cycle of poor sleep and chronic disease.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
Photo: Chiu Yi-chun, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者邱宜君
睡覺時會打呼嗎?資深藝人趙舜回憶二十六歲時,曾在朋友家過夜,鼾聲大到連樓上的鄰居都被吵醒,當時他一笑置之,不以為意。直到近年深受「三高疾病」(高血壓、血脂、血糖)所苦,且中風、洗腎、身體浮腫、天天打瞌睡,今年過年前檢查才驚覺,睡眠呼吸中止次數已高達每小時一百七十次,可能夜間猝死,才接受治療。
台灣睡眠醫學學會理事長林嘉謨強調,慢性病的治療不是只有白天,睡覺時間也是關鍵。若是睡眠呼吸中止症患者就會睡不好,造成交感神經興奮和缺氧,使得血糖、血壓等慢性病控制大打折扣。
台灣睡眠醫學學會使用國際通用的睡眠篩檢問卷,針對一千0六十八位二十到六十歲成年人進行調查,發現有百分之六十八受訪者睡覺打鼾,且超過一半的人都認為打鼾只是生活習慣,卻只有二成的人知道打鼾和睡眠呼吸中止症相關。
睡眠呼吸中止症常與其他更致命的情況一起發生。頂尖期刊《Lancet(刺胳針)》的研究指出,相較於正常人,有睡眠呼吸中止症的人發生車禍的機率是七倍,血壓不穩的機率近三倍,發生腦中風的機率是一點六倍,發生充血性心臟衰竭的機率是二點四倍。
林醫師建議,睡覺會打鼾或是睡不好的人,可透過睡眠檢查了解自己的狀況,如果真的患有睡眠呼吸中止症,可以依照不同的程度,選擇適合的治療,早點「打破」睡不好和慢性病的惡性循環。
(自由時報記者邱宜君)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
It’s another school day with the same ritual. You wake up to your smartphone’s alarm, scroll through messages during your commute, and listen to your favorite playlist with your wireless earbuds between classes. These devices, integrated smoothly into your daily routine, certainly make life more convenient. However, where do these devices end up after you replace them? In fact, the issue of electronic waste is a growing global concern. According to the United Nations, in 2019 alone, we generated an astonishing 53.6 million tons of e-waste—an average of 7.3kg per person. Projections hint at the figure soaring to 110