Unless you struggle to sleep at night because you can’t find peace and quiet next to your rumbling partner, chances are that you don’t think of snoring to be something that should raise a great deal of concern. However, the truth is that loud, frequent snoring may be an indicator of sleep apnea – a potentially serious and common disorder. Although sleep apnea can be treated with help from a professional, it usually goes unrecognized for long periods of time.
What Is Sleep Apnea?
Sleep apnea is an issue that impacts your ability to breathe when sleeping. If left untreated for extended periods of time, you could suffer from shallow or interrupted breathing while you sleep, jolting you awake and ruining the circadian rhythm. One of the side effects of sleep apnea is that you increased time in a light and disrupted sleep, leading to sleep deprivation.
Over time, sleep deprivation leads to tiredness throughout the day, problems with regards to concentration, slow reflexes, and a higher risk of injury through an accident.
Side Effects of Sleep Apnea
What’s more, untreated sleep apnea may lead to significant health problems over time, including greater blood pressure levels, heart attacks, heart failure, and irregular heartbeats, weight gain, stroke, heart disease, and diabetes. In addition, sleep apnea is often held responsible for poor performance in everyday activities, such as school and work problems, academic underachievement in adolescents and children, motor vehicle crashes, and more.
Fortunately, with the correct treatment, it is possible to reduce the symptoms of sleep apnea, get your sleeping cycle back into the correct rhythms, and start enjoying the comfort of feeling refreshed every day.
The Signs and Symptoms of Sleep Apnea
During an episode of sleep apnea, airflow stops, and the oxygen levels within the person’s blood will begin to drop. Your brain will respond to this by waking you up for enough time to help kick start a regular breathing rhythm – which may resume with a choking or gasping sound. Those who are diagnosed with obstructive apnea, chances are that you won’t even remember waking up as a result of losing your breath, and most of the time you’ll only stir enough to clear the windpipe. However, in central sleep apnea, you might be aware of your time awake.
Obviously, depending on the type of sleep apnea you are suffering from, you may find that it’s hard to diagnose by yourself. The most common sighs will occur while you’re asleep, but it can be helpful to ask a someone to watch over your sleeping, or set up a camera to record yourself during the night.
If pauses happen during periods of snoring, and gasping follows those small pauses, you may need to see a doctor about the possibility that you do have sleep apnea. Another one of the common side effects of sleep apnea is that you might be incredibly tired throughout the day, when driving, and at work. You might find yourself struggling to stay awake during the quieter hours of the day. The best thing to do if you suspect that you may be prone to sleep apnea, is speak to your doctor.
