Sleep apnea is a serious, potentially life-threatening condition that is far more common than generally understood.  By defintion, Sleep Apnea is the cessation of breathing for a short period of time while sleeping.  Sleep apnea is extremely common, as common as adult diabetes, and affects more than twelve million Americans, according to the National Institutes of Health. Risk factors include being male, overweight, and over the age of forty, but sleep apnea can strike anyone at any age, even children. Yet still because of the lack of awareness by the public and healthcare professionals, the vast majority remain undiagnosed and therefore untreated, despite the fact that this serious disorder can have significant consequences.

Symptoms of Apnea include snoring, holding your breath while sleeping, waking up gasping for air, headaches in the morning, excessive grogginess and desire to sleep during the day.

There are three types of sleep apnea: obstructive, central, and mixed.. Of the three, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common.  Despite the difference in the root cause of each type, in all three, people with untreated sleep apnea stop breathing repeatedly during their sleep, sometimes hundreds of times during the night and often for a minute or longer. 

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is caused by a blockage of the airway, usually when the soft tissue in the rear of the throat collapses and closes during sleep.  These episodes are believed to occur in the Thalmus area of the brain.

Central Sleep Apnea (CSA) is when the person stops breathing not because of a mechanical blockage, but because of neurological dysfunction where the brain fails to signal the muscles to breathe. During an episode, a person may just not take a breath for an unusually long time, then suddenly inhale rapidly; also, the person may inhale at regular intervals, but exhaling becomes troublesome, again, due to some neurological failure, such as muscles relaxing at that moment, when they should be open (not to be confused with an OSA episode, where muscles relax before inhalation).

Mixed Sleep Apnea (MSA) is the rarest kind of sleep apnea and is a combination of the both Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Central Sleep Apnea.  Not only does the sufferer have an obstruction in the airway, but also has a neurological dysfunction as well. 

In a given night, the number of involuntary breathing pauses or "apneic events" may be as high as 20 to 30 or more per hour. These breathing pauses are almost always accompanied by snoring between apnea episodes, although not everyone who snores has this condition. Sleep apnea can also be characterized by choking sensations.  With each apnea event, the brain briefly arouses sleep apnea victims from sleep in order for them to resume breathing, but consequently sleep is extremely fragmented and of poor quality because of the frequent interuptions to the deep restorative sleep. 

Early recognition and treatment of sleep apnea is important because these problems, left untreated, can be dangerous and it may also be associated with irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke.  Many times, a person with apnea will fall asleep at work, or worse, while driving! There are also pulmonary problems that can result over a long term as well as memory problems, weight gain, impotency, and headaches. Fortunately, sleep apnea can be diagnosed and treated. Several treatment options exist, and research into additional options continues.

For more Information check out our "Obstructive Sleep Apnea FAQ's" and "Central Sleep Apnea FAQ's" pages.

I am not a medical professional; the advice, information and anecdotes presented here are not deemed to be medically accurate.  The information in this document is not intended as medical advice and is for Informational purposes only.   If you have questions concerning any of the issues in this document you may want to seek the advice of a physician.