Do you experience sleepiness during the daytime? When you wake up in the morning, do you feel tired? Have you been told you snore loudly? If you answer yes to these questions, you may have seep apnea (Greek word meaning “without breath”) which can be life threatening.

Symptoms of Sleep Apnea

• Excessive daytime tiredness: falling asleep at inappropriate times (while driving or at work)
• Very loud snoring
• Periods of not breathing
• Abrupt awakenings
• Gasping or choking for breath
• Awakenings with a dry mouth or sore throat
• Morning headaches
• Awakening and not feeling rested
• Weight gain
• Irritability
• Poor judgment
• Lethargy
• Memory loss
• Lack of concentration

Episodes of sleep apnea are considered a serious health situation. Those with sleep apnea snore very loudly and may choke and gasp for breath. The sleep cycle goes from deep sleep to light sleep many times during the night. The oxygen levels in the blood briefly drop repeatedly. Is it any wonder a person with sleep apnea does not feel rested.

Over 18 million people in the United States have sleep apnea and more men are diagnosed than women. There are two forms of apnea: Obstructive sleep apneas (OSA) is more common and occurs when throat muscles relax; Central sleep Apnea (CSA) is when the brain fails to send signals to muscles that control breathing.

OSA occurs when the muscles in the back of the throat relax and block the airway. These are the uvula, soft palate, tonsils and tongue. When the airway is narrowed or blocked, air cannot get to the lungs and the oxygen levels in the blood are lowered. The brain senses this and tries to awaken you to breathe. Usually, you wake up and take one or two deep breaths followed by a gasping, snorting sound. This is repeated many times. The awakening is so brief that most do not remember it at all.

In CSA, the person is awakened due to the low levels of oxygen and the high levels of carbon monoxide in the blood. You may awake with shortness of breath and generally will remember it the next morning.