More than 30 million people in the United States have sleep apnea symtoms, a potentially serious disorder that can cause heart problems and other health issues. Loud snoring is one of the most common signs, along with difficulty staying asleep and excessive daytime sleepiness.
Other risk factors include being overweight, smoking, having a narrow throat, nasal congestion, taking sedatives or tranquilizers, diabetes and high blood pressure, age, pregnancy and a family history of the condition.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Obstructive sleep apnea happens when something — like a throat muscle relaxes or a tongue falls into the airway — blocks your breathing. This can happen dozens of times an hour. Your body will try to reopen the airway with a gasp, snort or a body jerk, but you won’t remember these events. Over time, the obstruction can decrease the flow of oxygen to your body and cause problems with your heart and other organs.
Symptoms of this type of sleep apnea include loud snoring (although not all people who snore have this problem). Other symptoms are excessive daytime sleepiness and periods of breath holding during sleep followed by gasps or snorts.
Often, your doctor will refer you to an ear, nose and throat specialist (otolaryngologist) or lung specialist, called a pulmonologist, for testing. You’ll wear devices to measure things like your breathing and blood pressure while you sleep, and your doctor will evaluate the results. This test can show if you have obstructive sleep apnea and how severe it is.
Central Sleep Apnea
This rare condition results when the brain fails to send proper signals to the breathing muscles. It can cause pauses in breathing or rapid, shallow breaths. The drops in blood oxygen level can lead to a range of problems, from mild depression to memory loss and stroke. The skin may have a dusky or bluish color (cyanosis) due to the lack of oxygen in the blood.
A bed partner or family member might be the first to notice pauses in your nighttime breathing. Your doctor might refer you to a sleep specialist, who will do a physical exam and ask about your medical history. The specialist will probably order a polysomnogram, or sleep study, to assess your apnea.
Many medical conditions can increase your risk of CSA, including heart disease, stroke, congestive heart failure, atrial fibrillation, diabetes, kidney disease and certain medications like opioids and sedatives. Obesity also raises the risk, because fat deposits around your throat can narrow your airway.
Complex Sleep Apnea
A very small number of people with CSA experience central sleep apnea that appears without, or worsens during treatment with, an obstructive airway obstruction (such as CPAP). This condition is sometimes called “treatment-emergent central sleep apnea.”
It occurs when the brain fails to send proper electrical signals to the muscles that control breathing. This causes the muscles to relax and close off the windpipe, resulting in a pause or reduction in breathing that lasts for short periods of time. Often, the person wakes up and gasps for breath. Symptoms include snoring, excessive daytime sleepiness, poor quality of life, and depression or anxiety.
If you or someone you know has these symptoms, speak with your doctor. Sleep apnea can lead to serious health problems if left untreated, including high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and weight gain. It also increases your risk of a stroke or accidents while driving or working. Sleep apnea also leads to poor concentration and memory, which can affect your work or family life.
Mixed Sleep Apnea
Frequent loud snoring and extreme daytime sleepiness are the most common symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea. People with this condition also have pauses in breathing while sleeping, which may be followed by gasping or choking sounds. These episodes disrupt the quality of sleep and lower oxygen levels in the blood, which can cause a variety of health problems.
Central sleep apnea happens when the brain fails to send signals to the muscles that control breathing. This can occur in people with neuromuscular diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease) and other disorders that affect the respiratory control center. It can also happen to people who have a stroke or heart disease.
People with obstructive sleep apnea may have both obstructive and central sleep apnea, which is called complex sleep apnea syndrome. These people often have more obstructive events than central, but they can also have central events that aren’t caused by a physical blockage in the airway.