Snoring is an annoying sound that occurs when air flows through relaxed tissue in the throat while sleeping. If you ever get woken up by a sudden snoring or if your partner nudges you to get your turn, it is possible that you are affected by sleep apnea, which is associated with drowsiness, sleep disturbances and even respiratory problems such as coughing and wheezing. Not every snorer has sleep apnea, but many who do have it snore regularly and loudly. Obstructive sleep apnea is a common and serious sleep disorder that causes breathing to stop during sleep. Sleep apnea is the condition in which a person’s breathing repeatedly begins and stops during sleep. When this happens, your airways become blocked, limiting the amount of air that enters your lungs, and you can make choking noises or snore while trying to breathe.
Depending on these factors, actual sound or vibration may be frequent or rare, loud or quiet. This can happen at night, during the day or even in the middle of the night during sleep apnea. Frequent snoring, is a common symptom of OSA, which is itself a chronic disease characterized by breathing interruptions and shallow breaths during sleep. If you have OSA, your airways and throat are regularly blocked completely during sleep. Twenty to two million Americans suffer from sleep apnea, a condition in which they stop breathing, causing the patient to wake up randomly during their sleep cycle. In some cases, people can stop sleeping with OSA and travel back and forth between waking up, falling asleep and sleeping.
The disease, which is usually characterized by loud snoring, can increase the risk of high blood pressure and stroke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is particularly associated with the tongue and other soft tissues that block the airways when the airways are blocked during sleep. While obesity is a major risk factor for developing sleep apnea, large tonsils and reclusive jaws are also more likely to cause it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A 2014 study led by Schwab compared obese patients with and without sleep apnea and found that participants with the condition had a higher risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and high blood pressure than participants without.
Because a person with sleep apnea can wake up so often at night, deep, restful sleep can be almost impossible. In patients who already have a known heart condition, a repeated drop in blood oxygen levels can be the cause of heart failure and death. As a result, it typically leads to daytime sleepiness, energy deficiency, and irritability. In addition, sleep disorders and the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, heart attack or stroke are also associated.
Dr. Nauman found that snoring is a sign of sleep apnea, but sometimes it is a sign of a more serious condition, Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), which literally means that you stop breathing for a short time each night. When you sleep, your tongue and other soft tissues in the throat relax and tend to fall out and block your airways. Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder that occurs when a person’s breathing is interrupted while they sleep. People with untreated sleep apnea repeatedly stop breathing, and obstructive sleep apnea can occur at any time of the night, even in the middle of sleep, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
Sleep apnea is characterized by repeated interruptions of breathing during the sleep cycle. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common form of sleep apnea. It means a temporary respiratory arrest, but can also cause breathing problems during sleep. OSA occurs when soft tissue in the posterior pharynx blocks the airways and hinders oxygen absorption. This can occur in people with obstructive sleep apnea, as well as in people who have experienced a lack of oxygen in the lungs in the middle of their sleep. Sleep apnea can harm your health by causing chronic fatigue and, if left untreated, increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke. Sleep apnea is defined as a respiratory failure during sleep, meaning breathing restarts several times during the night.