What is sleep apnea?

Stopping breathing: Sleep apnea happens when a person is asleep. Apnea is not breathing (no effort is made to take a breath), or the inabilitiy to breath due to an obstruction (but efforts are made to breathe). Osa is obstructive sleep apnea, which is the common problem heavy snorers have, where the tongue, throat, & neck tissues relax and come together, blocking off air flow and stopping snoring noises momentarily.

Closed airway: Sleep apnea is the closure of the airway or significant narrowing of the airway during sleep. Risk factors include being male, being overweight, having a large neck, being a snorer and having daytime sleepiness. Sleep apnea increases your risk of stroke, heart attack and high blood pressure.

Stop breathing: Waking up in the middle of the night gasping for air, snoring, being tired all the time.

Low blood oxygen : These are typical signs of sleep apnea, a condition which involve periods of ten seconds or more without breathing (apnea) and periods of time with shallow breathing and a significant decrease in blood oxygen levels (hypopnia). This condition can be diagnosed by a sleep specialist with either an overnight at home sleep test or at a sleep clinic utilizing a full psg.

Sleep apnea: Sleep apnea- a person has pauses in their breathing while sleeping. If left untreated, this can lead to high blood pressure, heart failure, etc. 2 types of sleep apnea-obstructive & central. Obstructive-airways are blocked & lead to pauses. Central-the brain doesn't communicate to your muscles to breathe. More: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sleepapnea