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Comment by sergiotapia | Hacker News Reader

He looked otherwise healthy I wonder if it was something related to sleep apnea.

Ryan Davis from Giantbomb also died suddenly while on his honeymoon.

http://www.giantbomb.com/ryan-davis/3040-93335/forums/ryan-d...

Way too many people dismiss sleep apnea. Folks, it can kill you - or cause other serious problems. In addition to narcolepsy, your general metabolism can get messed up too.

I spent 4+ years not getting any REM sleep and my metabolism STILL suffers as a result - even 14 years after starting on CPAP and using it EVERY night since then.

It's too long to go into here - but I did a writeup years ago about my "journey", along with my wife's issues with PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome).

http://weblog.mrbill.net/archives/2014/01/13/falling-in-love...

Do you snore (badly)? Do you find yourself tossing and turning a LOT at night? Do you wake up gasping or with a general sense of dread/fear? Are you super-tired during the day? Have you ever fallen asleep while typing, while at a stoplight in your car, etc? Talk to a doctor about having a sleep study done. It might save your life.

Another good question, do you wake up to urinate in the night? That was one of my indicators of my sleep disorder, as I sleep through the night now.

I was diagnosed with sleep hypopnea, which is not as severe as sleep apnea. The difference between the two is how low your pulse ox falls while you have stopped breathing. I think my diagnosis was an artifact of the sleep study however because they didn't really let me sleep very much during the study.

I am using a CPAP and my health has greatly improved. Lower blood pressure, feeling like I got real rest during the night, improved cognitive function. Still dealing with some metabolic issues, which I am trying to resolve with diet, eating habits and exercise.

PS I knew I snored. I never imagined I had sleep apnea until I got married and my wife observed that I would stop breathing in the middle of the night.

Waking up to urinate in the middle of the night could also mean that you're over 40 and probably male (though women often have the same issue for different reasons).

I'm over 40, and stopped having to urinate during the night once my CPAP enabled me to achieve phase 3 and 4 sleep.

How do you measure your metabolism?

Check https://www.acefitness.org/certifiednewsarticle/2882/resting... or http://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html.

What level is abnormal?

A good introduction is here:

http://examine.com/faq/does-metabolism-vary-between-two-peop...

> Metabolic rate does vary, and technically there could be large variance. However, statistically speaking it is unlikely the variance would apply to you. The majority of the population exists in a range of 200-300kcal from each other and do not possess hugely different metabolic rates.

Note that caloric intake is exceptionally difficult to measure accurately (even for people who consistently log calories), so it would probably be unwise to attempt to self-diagnose. If you suspect you have a problem, you should consult a physician.

You're kind of freaking me out here. My dad tosses and turns, doesn't get much sleep, has to pee at night, wakes up in fear in the past often as I'd wake him up after I'd come running to his room at night because I heard crazy sounds of him gasping for air. He generally doesn't get super-tired during the day though, but he's not super active anymore and drinks his coffee still.

Anyway he's seen a doctor many times, mostly for heart/cancer stuff, but also specifically for his sleeping problems. But there was never this response that his life was in danger and that he needed studies done because it might kill him, while the healthcare system is quite advanced here...

He should get a sleep study done ASAP.

I was an apnea baby, and died on my parents a number of times as a child due to it. Thankfully these days it's a million times better: the only time I have issues is when I sleep on my back.

Ryan Davis was incredibly overweight. He was obese, he smoked and had a terrible diet. Sleep apnea was the cause, but he wasn't long for this world. http://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-topics/obesity-and-sleep

Doesn't make sense to speculate, could be a million things like heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, aneurysm, complications with undiagnosed diabetes etc etc

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