Juanita Herholdt used to need two energy drinks and a nap to get through her day. She wasn’t getting enough sleep, which made her grumpy and caused her to battle with controlling her weight.
As a nurse who tested people for sleep disorders, she didn’t think about testing herself until her husband said: “I can’t hear you breathing at night.”
She did the test and learnt that she stopped breathing up to 42 times an hour while asleep. This meant she had severe sleep apnoea.
Sleep apnoea means you stop breathing for some time while asleep. Instead of sleeping through the night, you wake up all the time after your body has already been without enough oxygen for a while. Weight gain, daytime drowsiness and diabetes tend to follow. See how Herholdt beat sleep apnoea and got back to restful nights.
This story was produced by the Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism. Sign up for the newsletter.
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