Sleep apnea is a common disorder in which breathing stops during sleep for 10 seconds or more, sometimes more than 300 times a night. The hallmark of the disorder is excessive daytime sleepiness and compromised quality of life, including significant social and emotional problems. There are two main types of sleep apnea. 'Obstructive sleep apnea' may represent cessation of breathing due to mechanical blockage of the airway; 'central sleep apnea' appears to be related to a malfunction of the brain's normal signal to breathe.

Sleep Apnea is a serious medical condition that can deprive you of sleep and you may not even know about it. It is also linked to serious diseases such as heart diseases, stroke, high blood pressure, and other coronary diseases.You may ask how sleep apnea deprives you the sleep you need. Sleep apnea is a condition where you will stop breathing for as short as 10 seconds to as long as a minute. This in turn will wake you up from deep sleep in order to shift your body to allow breathing.

When you stop breathing oxygen levels in the blood drop and carbon dioxide levels rise. This causes your heart to pump harder and sometimes to beat irregularly, or even to stop for several seconds. Your diaphragm and chest muscles work harder and your blood pressure rises. Finally, your brain senses that your body is in trouble and wakes you sufficiently for you to breathe and, as you do so, your breathing will often be accompanied by loud snoring.

Sleep apnea can be recognized by a number of symptoms. Loud and intermittent snoring is one warning signal. The person who has sleep apnea may experience a choking sensation, early-morning headaches, or extreme daytime sleepiness as well. His bed partner or roommate might comment on his excessive body movements or his snorting or gasping for breath during sleeping. If the condition is suspected, it should be reported to a physician, who may recommend evaluation by a specialist in sleep disorders. Since sleeping pills may be harmful for people with sleep apnea, they should

In normal conditions, the muscles of the upper part of the throat keep this passage open to allow air to flow into the lungs. These muscles usually relax during sleep, but the passage remains open enough to permit the flow of air. Some individuals have a narrower passage, and during sleep, relaxation of these muscles causes the passage to close, and air cannot get into the lungs. Loud snoring and labored breathing occur. When complete blockage of the airway occurs, air cannot reach the lungs. For reasons that are still unclear, in deep sleep, breathing can stop for a period of time (often more than 10 seconds).

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