The danger of sleep apnea

Like most men, and like most ex-athletes, I'm a driven, goal-oriented person. Not content to dwell on yesterday's accomplishments, I try to make sure I'm looking ahead, pressing forward.

This kind of orientation has certainly been helpful in my career pursuits. For the past 12 years, I was blessed to co-host the FOX NFL Sunday pre-game show with three very talented professionals in Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson. Rated as the No. 1 pre-game show for the entire time, we never were complacent. We were constantly studying, researching, working the phones and calling one another to stay current. My weekly travels from my East Coast home to Los Angeles and back were approximately 5,000-mile roundtrips for 20 weeks, 22 including pre-season telecasts. My Sundays were 12-hour days, from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m.

But, I digress. The point of all of this is, I was accustomed to pushing myself and not allowing a little fatigue to concern me. By Thanksgiving, the back-and-forth travel would start to wear on me a bit, but I'd block it out and press forward. So it was not unusual I thought, when my wife, Dorothy, would tell me that I was snoring loud enough to pull the paint off the walls. My thinking was, What guy doesn't snore?!

Another symptom I ignored was my inability to retain as much information during my study periods later in the NFL season. I found myself reading an entire paragraph or two over and over. I constantly found myself waking up in the morning feeling as if I need another six to seven hours of sleep. Again, I chalked it up to the long season and bi-coastal living. Add to that my wife telling me she was not sleeping well because she was constantly shaking me during the night ... because I repeatedly stopped breathing!

Well, the real eye-opener came when my friend, NFL great Reggie White, passed away, and sleep apnea was a contributing factor. Unfortunately, it took that to get me to go to a sleep disorder clinic and to submit to a sleep test. The results revealed that I would stop breathing from 20-50 times an hour, each time anywhere from 20-30 seconds! I had to wear the CPAP (Constant Positive Air Pressure) machine and mask at night until there was significant improvement. I now wake up each morning feeling like a new man, energetic throughout the day, and able to retain information again!

The doctor who helped me to realize how serious sleep apnea is was Dr. Asefa J. Mekonnen, director of the Rockville Internal Medicine Sleep Center in Rockville, Md. He's one of the country's top authorities on the condition.

Dr. Mekonnen points out that sleep apnea is a common yet often undiagnosed disorder that affects an estimated 12 million Americans, and it is twice as common in men as it is in women. Furthermore, African-Americans, professional athletes and the elderly are the most likely victims.

Medical experts say the symptoms of sleep apnea include snoring, interruption of breathing during sleep, "un-refreshed" sleep, morning headache, daytime fatigue and sleepiness, changes in mood and concentration, and a decline in sexual drive.

Further, untreated sleep apnea may contribute to a variety of serious problems, including cardiovascular problems, which are prominent among African-Americans. As a result, if sleep apnea is suspected, a specialist in sleep disorders should be consulted.

With that backdrop, I strongly encourage anyone displaying the symptoms to seek help. It truly is a matter of life or death!

JAMES BROWN, CBS Sportscaster

COPYRIGHT 2006 Johnson Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning