Former ITV Calendar presenter Duncan Wood: 'I stop breathing 80 times a night - it was threatening my life'
A former TV presenter is launching a campaign to raise awareness of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) after finding out that the fact he stopped breathing 80 times a night was threatening his life.
Duncan Wood, who fronted ITV Yorkshire’s Calendar news programme for nearly 20 years, said he did not know anything about the condition when he was referred for a sleep test in January last year.
He said he had always been a big snorer but also gasped for air when he slept.
Wood, 63, said he also always lacked energy during the day, but he only tried to find answers when he started going to the toilet up to seven times a night.
He was diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnoea and was told he had been at greater risk of having a heart attack, a stroke, high blood pressure and diabetes because he stopped breathing every night.
Wood, from Wetherby, said: “I stopped breathing more than 80 times an hour when I went to sleep and didn’t have a clue my life was on the line.”
He said: “I thought I had a significant prostate problem but it turns out it was the apnoeas. When I stopped breathing, I obviously had to start again and my body thought I’d woken up so I needed to go to the loo.”
Now he wears a Resmed nasal mask connected to a continuous positive airways pressure (CPAP) machine every night.
The machine is connected to the team at St James’s Hospital, in Leeds, which can study the data in time for his reviews, and to an app which gives him a daily run-down of how his night’s sleep went.
He said: “It’s not the most attractive thing to wear in the bedroom and at first it’s challenging.
“There are other things out there that can possibly help you, with new methods of treatment being researched all the time, but, at the moment, CPAP is still seen as the gold standard and it’s a no brainer for me.
“It really has changed my life.”
Now he is launching a YouTube channel – The Masked Anchorman – to raise awareness of his condition ahead of World Sleep Day on Friday.
Wood, who is being supported by the Hull-based charity Hope2Sleep, said it is thought that more than eight million people in the UK have obstructive sleep apnoea but around 85% do not know they have it and are not being treated.
He said: “If we can just get the message out there for people at risk to get checked out then their lives would be changed for the better and the NHS could save millions of pounds because not as many people would need treatment for the very serious health issues linked to OSA.”
Wood began his TV career as a sports presenter at Tyne Tees Television in Newcastle and later reported for GMTV before joining Calendar.
Consultant respiratory physician at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Dipansu Ghosh said: “Sleep apnoea often disrupts sleep without people realising it.
“People who snore, wake feeling unrefreshed, or struggle with daytime sleepiness may benefit significantly from treatment if sleep apnoea is the cause.
“It’s important to speak with a GP and arrange testing.”
Dr Ghosh said: “With the right diagnosis and treatment, the impact can be transformative.”