What Is Sleep Apnea?

Sleep apnea is a common disorder in which you have one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths while you sleep.

Breathing pauses can last from a few seconds to minutes. They often occur 5 to 30 times or more an hour. Typically, normal breathing then starts again, sometimes with a loud snort or choking sound.

Sleep apnea usually is a chronic (ongoing) condition that disrupts your sleep 3 or more nights each week. You often move out of deep sleep and into light sleep when your breathing pauses or becomes shallow.

This results in poor sleep quality that makes you tired during the day. Sleep apnea is one of the leading causes of excessive daytime sleepiness.

Overview

Sleep apnea often goes undiagnosed. Doctors usually can't detect the condition during routine office visits. Also, there are no blood tests for the condition.

Most people who have sleep apnea don't know they have it because it only occurs during sleep. A family member and/or bed partner may first notice the signs of sleep apnea.

The most common type of sleep apnea is obstructive sleep apnea. This most often means that the airway has collapsed or is blocked during sleep. The blockage may cause shallow breathing or breathing pauses.

When you try to breathe, any air that squeezes past the blockage can cause loud snoring. Obstructive sleep apnea happens more often in people who are overweight, but it can affect anyone.

The animation below shows how obstructive sleep apnea occurs. Click the "start" button to play the animation. Written and spoken explanations are provided with each frame. Use the buttons in the lower right corner to pause, restart, or replay the animation, or use the scroll bar below the buttons to move through the frames.

Central sleep apnea is a less common type of sleep apnea. It happens when the area of your brain that controls your breathing doesn't send the correct signals to your breathing muscles. You make no effort to breathe for brief periods.

Central sleep apnea often occurs with obstructive sleep apnea, but it can occur alone. Snoring doesn't typically happen with central sleep apnea.

This article mainly focuses on obstructive sleep apnea.

Outlook

Untreated sleep apnea can:

• Increase the risk for high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, obesity, and diabetes
• Increase the risk for or worsen heart failure
• Make irregular heartbeats more likely
• Increase the chance of having work-related or driving accidents

Lifestyle changes, mouthpieces, surgery, and/or breathing devices can successfully treat sleep apnea in many people.

Other Names for Sleep Apnea

• Sleep-disordered breathing
• Cheyne-Stokes breathing

What Is Sleep Apnea?

Sleep Apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea is a condition in which a person has episodes of blocked breathing during sleep. This article discusses obstructive sleep apnea in adults.
See also:

• Central sleep apnea
• Sleep disorders

Symptoms

A person who has obstructive sleep apnea often is not aware of the apnea episodes during the night. Often, family members, especially spouses, witness the periods of apnea.

A person with obstructive sleep apnea usually snores heavily soon after falling asleep. The snoring continues at a regular pace for a period of time, often becoming louder. It is then interrupted by a long silent period during which there is no breathing. This is followed by a loud snort and gasp, and the snoring returns. This pattern repeats frequently throughout the night.

The main symptoms are usually associated with excessive daytime sleepiness:

• Abnormal daytime sleepiness, including falling asleep at inappropriate times
• Awakening unrefreshed in the morning

Other symptoms may include:

•  Depression (possibly)
• Memory difficulties
• Morning headaches
• Personality changes
• Poor concentration
• Restless and fitful sleep
• Frequent waking up during the night to urinate
• Insomnia

Other symptoms that may occur with this disease:

Hyperactive behavior, especially in children
Leg swelling (if severe)

Sleep Apnea