Mike Napoli battles sleep apnea
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| Napoli has struggled this season, nagging injuries haven't helped Source: http://blogs.denverpost.com |
Contributing Writer
It was a rough season for the Red Sox and their fans. After winning the World Series they now sit at the bottom of their division. Somebody who didn't contribute as much as he did last year was Mike Napoli. Nap suffered an array of injuries which caused his performance to slightly decline. But through the offseason his injuries should heal and Nap will not need surgery. Instead, he will be receiving treatment for sleep apnea.
During the end-of-season media day Cherington touched on the Nap topic.
"That has been going on for several years, as sleep issues do for people, they tend to get worse as time goes on and his has. It's affected him. So because we have a longer offseason, we may look to work with him on some different ways to manage that going forward. We don't know what that's going to mean yet, but it's something we're working with him on."
Sleep apnea is a chronic condition that can cause a person to stop breathing, during sleep, sometimes as often as 30 times (or more) an hour. This disrupts the sleeping pattern and will lead to overall chronic fatigue. If this gets left untreated, the condition can lead to many serious medical problems, including high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke and diabetes.
The 32 year old Napoli is entering the final year of his two-year, $32 million dollar deal with the Red Sox. In 119 games this season, Nap hit .248/.370/.419 with 17 homers and 55 RBIs. If we want to compete next year a healthy Nap could be big. Hopefully he can fix his sleep problems this winter.
Thoughts? Let me know on twitter (@BringLesterBack) or comment below.
Sleep Apnea information from http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/index.html
