How Low Do You Go??

[Big Boy]

Thanks chopsticks, the way I read stgrhe's post, I was thinking it was part of the A/C system. When I eventually achieve expat status, I'll have to invest in a dehumidifier unit (or should it be humidifier?) to get rid of those early morning sore throats.

[stgrhe]

Thanks chopsticks, the way I read stgrhe's post, I was thinking it was part of the A/C system. When I eventually achieve expat status, I'll have to invest in a dehumidifier unit (or should it be humidifier?) to get rid of those early morning sore throats.

Yes, Chopsticks suggestion to supplement the A/C with a dehumidifier is a good advice.

It is of course not possible to control the relative humidity in the same way with A/C only, but the combination of a too cool set point and high fan speed will often created a too low relative humidity (could be down to 30%) and that is what gives you the sore throat.

Run the A/C with a low fan speed only and run it longer time instead of forced cooling. This will probably also save you some baht on the electricity bill.

G.

[PeteC]

What you need BB is a 'humidifier'. I doubt very much you'll find one anywhere here. A vaporizer is nothing but a mini humidifier and some seem small enough you could bring it in checked luggage. Pete

http://www.gotvape.com/gallery/vaporizer_shots.php

[pitsch]

You must not blame the A/C alone for sore throats. If you have too many Changs in the evening, this will also give a very sore throat.

[PeteC]

I don't know why but when it is hot outside and we have the A/C set at 22 we both end up having really deep sleeps. Similarly if it is really cold outside and the heating is at 22 we sleep really well. If the outside temperature is such that we don't need heating or cooling, we don't seem to end up with the same deep sleep. This is probably mind over matter, but as a person who has had a lifetime of sleeping disorders (insomnia and sleep apnoea), paying for the electricity is a minor issue compared with not sleeping for several hours with the necessary sleep cycles.

OK. I'm similar with my sleep problems. Tonight it goes to 22 and see what happens. At 24 I lay there with no shirt, top sheet or blanket and often wake up warm and uncomfortable.

Only problem at 22 is that my wife may beat me to death with the icicles forming on her. Pete

I tried 22 last night and way too dry. I awoke several times with nose and throat feeling like death valley. A bit on sleep apnea below which I also have, not good stuff. Pete

_________________

Severe Sleep Apnea May Bring Greater Risk of Death for Some

The relatively common breathing disorder, obstructive sleep apnea, appears to bring with it a greater chance of dying sooner, especially for middle-aged and senior men
By Katherine Harmon


Brief periods of interrupted breathing during sleep affect an estimated 10 to 25 percent of people in the U.S.A smattering of studies have linked the condition, known as obstructive sleep apnea, to a host of serious health risks, such as cardiovascular disease, obesity and even accidents—but long-term, population-based data on mortality overall have been lacking.

A new, 15-year-long study, published online yesterday in PLoS Medicine, followed 6,441 men and women—both with and without the condition—in the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's large Sleep Heart Health Study to see if there was any correlation between apnea and a higher risk of death.

During the course of the study, which followed up with subjects after an average of about eight years, 1,047 of the subjects died. After adjusting for age, race, body mass index (BMI) and smoking, the authors found that men ages 40 to 70 with severe apnea (defined as more than 30 incidents of disrupted breathing 10 seconds or longer per hour—8.2 percent of the cohort's men) had about one and a half times higher risk of dying from any cause than those who did not.

The other age, gender and apnea severity groups did not show a statistically significant increased risk, but that doesn't mean they will not be watched carefully. "Our study does not prove that women are not at risk," says Naresh Punjabi, lead study author and an associate professor of medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Not enough of them died or were ill enough to make a statistically sound connection, but researchers will continue to follow this cohort as long as funding allows, Punjabi notes.

The findings do not come as a surprise to the sleep research community. "It's long been believed that sleep apnea increases the rate of death," says David Schulman, an assistant professor of medicine at Emory University in Atlanta who wasn't involved in the study, noting that those with apnea are more likely to have high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol. But, he cautions, "it's hard to know for sure that apnea causes these diseases." Many of those with sleep apnea, he notes, tend to be male, older and overweight—increasing mortality rates overall—which makes it hard, he says, to conclude, "Was it the apnea, or was it that the guys were overweight and older?"

But the new research does fill an important hole in the data. Crucially, Punjabi notes: "The cohort is not patients. They actually represent individuals, people like you and me…. This is not a clinical study, but more of a community-based study." The authors even excluded those who, during the study, sought treatment for sleep apnea. Perhaps most important, it was a substantial group. "This is really the grandfather of all sleep–heart studies," Schulman says.

Punjabi and others look forward to formal clinical trials, in which researchers can start testing methods of intervention and treatment to see if they can bring the risk of mortality in check. "We do know for sure that treating apnea does make blood pressure better, but not vastly better," Schulman says. "In terms of things that kill people, heart disease is number one in this country," he notes, which makes any link with apnea a crucial line of research. "We'd love to know mechanistically why this happens."

Those with sleep apnea often suffer from increased sleepiness during waking hours, which can be dangerous when driving—or flying. Last year, two crew members overshot their Hawaiian destination on an inter-island flight after falling asleep when the plane was in cruise mode. No one was hurt, but the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) ruled that the pilot's undiagnosed sleep apnea was likely one of the causes. The NTSB has since recommended that the Federal Aviation Administration screen pilots for signs or previous diagnoses of the disease.

Another recent study, published last week in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, found that as many as 94 percent of adults with Down's syndrome had some sort of obstructive sleep apnea—and in 69 percent of those patients it was severe.

[stgrhe]

Pete, try running your A/C on its lowest fan speed and increase the set point to 25 or 26 degrees. You will most likely find that the relative humidity does not drop that much and in the morning you wake up feeling better.

I run my bedroom A/C continuously that way.

G.

[PeteC]

Pete, try running your A/C on its lowest fan speed and increase the set point to 25 or 26 degrees. You will most likely find that the relative humidity does not drop that much and in the morning you wake up feeling better.

I run my bedroom A/C continuously that way.G.

Thanks, will give it a try. At 25-26 though I'll probably wake up soaking in sweat, we'll see.

I'm really in a Catch 22 situation like many others it seems. Temp set low and it dries you out. Set higher, and throat/sinus better but too hot to sleep properly. Pete

[Big Boy]

You must not blame the A/C alone for sore throats. If you have too many Changs in the evening, this will also give a very sore throat.

I'm not going to blame the beer, so it has to be the A/C Besides, I don't drink when I drive, so it must be the A/C.

[JAJA]

Yes sleep apnoea is serious. After sleep tests overnight at a hospital, I sleep with a CPAP machine. The machine is calibrated to your personal needs and pumps air into your nostrils via a mask. Not exactly a formula for romance but very effective. The CPAP comes with a humidifier where you can increase or decrease the humidity of the air being pumped into the mask. However, the basic point is that you need to humidify the air.

[JAJA]

Forgot to say to hhfarang, great garden. Must be some house you have there.[/url][/quote]

[yellowking]

By choice 22-24 depending on my mood but when i was at the Ex's house in Issan for a month it was a small fan under the Mosquito net and I still slept like a log.

Currently in england visiting family and guess what?

No Air con it's too bl**dy cold and wet here.

I MISS THE JUNGLE hehe

[Takiap]

"how low do you go"...............................you'll know because you can taste the difference....lol

[KelpieKiss]

How low do you go? How more boring can you get? zzzzzzzzzzzz

[Randy Cornhole]

Looks like the non A/C old school boys have it by a nose...

The rest of you will learn eventually...

[STEVE G]

How low do you go? How more boring can you get? zzzzzzzzzzzz

We'll wait with anticipation for you to post something more exciting then.