Overview

Sleep apnea is a potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts. If you snore loudly and feel tired even after a full night’s sleep, you might have sleep apnea.

The main types of sleep apnea are:

• Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which is the more common form that occurs when throat muscles relax and block the flow of air into the lungs
• Central sleep apnea (CSA), which occurs when the brain doesn’t send proper signals to the muscles that control breathing
• Treatment-emergent central sleep apnea, also known as complex sleep apnea, which happens when someone has OSA — diagnosed with a sleep study — that converts to CSA when receiving therapy for OSA

If you think you might have sleep apnea, see your health care provider. Treatment can ease your symptoms and might help prevent heart problems and other complications.

Symptoms

The symptoms of obstructive and central sleep apneas overlap, sometimes making it difficult to determine which type you have. The most common symptoms of obstructive and central sleep apneas include:

• Loud snoring.
• Episodes in which you stop breathing during sleep — which would be reported by another person.
• Gasping for air during sleep.
• Awakening with a dry mouth.
• Morning headache.
• Difficulty staying asleep, known as insomnia.
• Excessive daytime sleepiness, known as hypersomnia.
• Difficulty paying attention while awake.
• Irritability.

When to see a doctor?

Loud snoring can indicate a potentially serious problem, but not everyone who has sleep apnea snores. Talk to your health care provider if you have symptoms of sleep apnea. Ask your provider about any sleep problem that leaves you fatigued, sleepy and irritable.

Diagnosis

Your health care provider may make an evaluation based on your symptoms and a sleep history, which you can provide with help from someone who shares your bed or your household, if possible.

You’re likely to be referred to a sleep disorder center. There, a sleep specialist can help you determine your need for further evaluation.

An evaluation often involves overnight monitoring of your breathing and other body functions during sleep testing at a sleep center. Home sleep testing also might be an option. Tests to detect sleep apnea include:

• Nocturnal polysomnography. During this test, you’re hooked up to equipment that monitors your heart, lung and brain activity, breathing patterns, arm and leg movements, and blood oxygen levels while you sleep.
• Home sleep tests. Your health care provider might provide you with simplified tests to be used at home to diagnose sleep apnea. These tests usually measure your heart rate, blood oxygen level, airflow and breathing patterns. Your provider is more likely to recommend polysomnography in a sleep testing facility, rather than a home sleep test, if central sleep apnea is suspected.

Treatment

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). If you have moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, you might benefit from using a machine that delivers air pressure through a mask while you sleep. With CPAP (SEE-pap), the air pressure is somewhat greater than that of the surrounding air and is just enough to keep your upper airway passages open, preventing apnea and snoring.

• Other airway pressure devices. If using a CPAP machine continues to be a problem for you, you might be able to use a different type of airway pressure device that automatically adjusts the pressure while you’re sleeping (auto-CPAP). Units that supply bilevel positive airway pressure (BPAP) also are available. These provide more pressure when you inhale and less when you exhale.
• Oral appliances. Another option is wearing an oral appliance designed to keep your throat open. CPAP is more reliably effective than oral appliances, but oral appliances might be easier to use. Some are designed to open your throat by bringing your jaw forward, which can sometimes relieve snoring and mild obstructive sleep apnea.

• ExciteOSA. eXciteOSA^® is the world’s first daytime therapy for reducing mild obstructive sleep apnea and snoring in just 6 weeks. This convenient, easy-to-use daytime therapy device seamlessly integrates into your normal working day – so you get the sleep apnea therapy you need – on your own time! Oftentimes, OSA is caused by collapsed tissue in the airway. eXciteOSA^® prevents the airway from collapsing by improving the muscle function of the tongue through stimulation therapy. Strengthening those oropharyngeal muscles not only prevents the upper airway tissue from

Getting a good night’s sleep is just as important to your overall health as eating well and exercising regularly. That’s why it’s important to understand that snoring or regularly waking up tired means you probably aren’t getting the type of quality sleep you need.

Why is sleep important?

Learn about the different phases of sleep and what they mean, why sleep is so important to your overall health and what happens if you don’t get enough of it.

To understand why sleep is important, think of your body as a factory that performs a number of vital functions. As you drift off to sleep, your body begins its night-shift work:

• Healing damaged cells
• Boosting your immune system
• Recovering from the day’s activities
• Recharging your heart and cardiovascular system for the next day

We all know the value of sleeping well, and we’ve all experienced the feeling of being refreshed after a good night’s sleep – and the feeling of fatigue after a poor night’s sleep. But even though we know this, in our busy society, many of us are not getting the quality sleep needed to truly receive the health benefits of sleep.

Understanding the sleep cycle

Understanding what happens during sleep also means understanding the sleep cycle, which comprises two recurring phases: REM (rapid eye movement) and NREM (non-REM or non-rapid eye movement). Both phases are important for different functions in our bodies.

NREM sleep typically occupies 75-80% of total sleep each night. Many of the health benefits of sleep take place during NREM sleep – tissue growth and repair occurs, energy is restored and hormones that are essential for growth and development are released.

REM sleep typically occupies 20-25% of total sleep each night. REM sleep, when dreaming occurs, is essential to our minds for processing and consolidating emotions, memories and stress. It is also thought to be vital for learning, stimulating the brain regions used in learning and developing new skills.

If the REM and NREM cycles are interrupted multiple times throughout the night – either due to snoring, difficulties breathing or waking up frequently throughout the night – then we miss out on vital body processes, which can affect our health and well-being the next day and long term.

What happens if you don’t get enough sleep?

If your body doesn’t get a chance to properly recharge – by cycling through REM and NREM – you’re already starting the next day at a disadvantage. You might find yourself Feeling drowsy, irritable or sometimes depressed, struggling to take in new information at work, remembering things or making decisions Craving more unhealthy foods, which could cause weight gain. If this happens night after night, it places a tremendous strain on your nervous system, body and overall health. So if you’re not sleeping well or aren’t feeling rested when you wake up in the morning, it’s important to talk to your doctor and ask if a sleep study is right for you.

What causes snoring?

Snoring is a common problem caused by the relaxation of muscles in your nose and throat., however it can be an indication of something more serious.

What causes snoring is a question that can be answered multiple ways. From an anatomical standpoint, snoring is caused by a partially closed upper airway (the nose and throat). Everyone’s neck muscles relax during sleep, but sometimes they relax so much that the upper airway partly closes and becomes too narrow for enough air to travel through to the lungs. When this happens, it means that a person isn’t taking in enough oxygen for the body to perform its important functions. The brain then sends a signal to the body to wake up to get the oxygen it needs, likely resulting in the person waking up throughout the night without realizing it.

Why do people snore?

Why do some people snore and others don’t? Those who have enlarged tonsils, an enlarged tongue or excess weight around the neck are more prone to snoring. And structural reasons like the shape of one’s nose or jaw can also cause snoring. The snoring sound itself is a result of the narrowing of a person’s airway, which causes a throat vibration and the snoring sound. No matter the reason, 40% of normal adults snore regularly, whether they realize it or not.

Snoring and sleep apnea

Snoring and sleep apnea are linked at an alarming rate – 1 in 3 men and approximately 1 in 5 women who are habitual snorers suffer from some degree of obstructive sleep apnea.2 Sleep apnea prevents you from getting the healthy sleep you need to lead a refreshed, energetic life. It has also been linked to numerous other health conditions like type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart failure and hypertension. So regardless of what is specifically causing snoring for you, if you snore – or if you suspect you snore – consider it a sign that something might not be right.

Your ability to breathe in air when you’re asleep or awake may be affected by your lower airway-that is, your lung area. This may be due to a number of lower airway conditions.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive long-term lung disease that involves inflammation and thickening of the airways. Over time, the disease makes it more difficult to breathe because the airways are obstructed, restricting the flow of air in and out of the lungs. When this happens, less oxygen reaches the blood, and it becomes harder to get rid of the waste gas carbon dioxide. COPD is made up of two chronic conditions: chronic bronchitis which is a persistent cough with mucus, and emphysema which is characterized by the destruction of lung tissue.

Causes of COPD

The main cause of COPD is tobacco smoking, with smokers at a higher risk of respiratory problems and mortality. Other risk factors include exposure to air pollution, and occupational exposure to dust and chemicals.

How common is COPD?

According to the latest figures from the World Health Organization 65 million people across the globe are living with moderate to severe COPD. Over the next decade deaths from COPD are projected to increase by more than 30% and by 2030 it is expected to become the third leading cause of death worldwide.

COPD diagnosis and treatment

Your doctor will diagnose COPD based on your symptoms and medical history.

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