What is Sleep Apnea?

Sleep apnea is a condition that many people suffer through, yet hardly any of those that suffer through it know what they have and what the consequences might be. If you have sleep apnea, you are stopping your breathing many times during the night. It might be that you stop breathing up to 100 times every night. When this happens, those that suffer with sleep apnea will wake themselves up and begin to breathe again. Sleep apnea is usually caused by an obstruction of the cavities that lead to oxygen being pulled into your lungs. You simply stop breathing, and then in order to begin again you have to wake yourself up. Most of the people who have sleep apnea don't notice that they are waking themselves up, and therefore they might not be aware that they are actually getting up many times during the night and falling back to sleep again. The most readily available source for you regarding whether or not this is happening is you have happen to have a sleep partner who can record when you are waking yourself up and if you are having symptoms of sleep apnea at that time. There are some very important things that everyone should know when they are talking about sleep apnea. It is something that will mean you are having sleep deprivation, which is a terrible thing for you when it comes to your life, the way that you live your life, and the way that your body is handling yourself. However, not only does it lead to sleep deprivation, it is something that can actually threaten your life. It is also a progressive sleep disorder, which means that the longer you have it, and the older you get the worse the condition might get. It is something that will get worse the longer you have it, and it will not go away with age. Sleep apnea is not something that a person can outgrow. The other thing to remember is that in order to get better, a person must get treatment for their sleep apnea, and that once you have treatment, you are usually going to be successful in getting better and beginning to be able to sleep through the night without having sleep apnea related instances. Many people wonder if snoring and sleep apnea are actually the same thing. However, they are two completely different things. Snoring is simply the noise that you make while you are asleep. It might happen when you have sleep apnea, but if you are simply snoring it does not mean that your breathing has stopped, and that you have sleep apnea. Many people snore all of their lives and they do not experience sleep apnea. How Will You Know if You have Sleep Apnea?

There are several symptoms of sleep apnea. These are symptoms that if you are not aware of them, your sleeping partner certainly should be. These tend to be things that you might not notice on your own, but if you sleep with someone, they will completely notice what is happening to you and they will be able to find out whether or not you have sleep apnea. If you want to find out if you have sleep apnea, you can have your partner help you by keeping a journal of the times you wake up during the night. If you have a willing partner, who doesn't mind missing out on a few nights of sleep themselves, you can easily have them record what you have been doing in your sleep.

You can also record yourself, or visit a sleep clinic to be diagnosed. A good way to record your sleep patterns on your own is to get a sound activated recorder. This will only begin to record when there is something to record. These can usually be purchased quite cheaply, or can be rented from places.

If you don't want to do this, and you don't' have a sleep partner, you can always ask a friend or a family member to record your sleep patterns and see what is going on, or you can visit a clinic, at which time you will learn all about your sleep patterns. At a sleep clinic, they will monitor your entire cycle of sleep, and you will be able to get results about everything that happens while you are sleeping.

The symptoms of sleep apnea are easy for someone to realize. The first and most prevalent symptom is a very frequent cessation of breathing while you are asleep. Basically, this means that you stop breathing. There might be silences that are repeated from your side of the bed. Your partner will be able to notice that you aren't making any noise. After this happens, your partner will notice that you are choking and gasping during sleep, which is how you get air into your lungs. Another symptom of sleep apnea is very loud snoring.

If your partner is looking for signs of your sleep apnea, they might notice that you are not only snoring loudly, but that you are gasping and awaking yourself in order to get air back into your lungs. You will be waking yourself up in order to start breathing again. Your partner will completely notice these things because it will be a major disruption in the way that you are sleeping.

There are some other symptoms of sleep apnea that you might be able to notice on your own ,without your partners help. One of them is the feeling of waking up in the middle of the night drenched in a sweat. This might be happening because your body is struggling to get the air that it needs, and you are feeling as if you need to get oxygen in any way that you can. This is the cause of the sweat on your body, and if you wake up sweaty several times during the night, it might be sleep apnea.

Another symptom of sleep apnea is waking up with a feeling of being un refreshed, even if you have spent an entire night asleep. You might find that you get enough sleep, but you are in fact not getting the right amount of rest, and in the morning you are feeling like you haven't slept. Other symptoms you might notice when you wake up include having headaches, sore throats, or dry mouth in the mornings

Other symptoms might include sleepiness during the day, which might mean that you are falling asleep at times that are not appropriate, such as driving times or during work. You might feel lethargic, and you might see a rapid weight gain. You also might find that you are having memory loss, and difficulties learning. Your attention span might be short, and you might find that you have poor judgment. These s symptoms might not seem that serious, but they in turn to could lead to things happening. If you are not able to stay awake while you are driving, for instance, you might find that you are experiencing vast times of danger and you might end up putting yourself into situations that you don't want to be in. These kinds of things are secondary symptoms, which might lead to even worse symptoms if they aren't treated.

There are other symptoms that you might not even think to associate with sleep apnea. If you are experiencing a period of depression, or if you are seeing that you are having major personality changes, these are all signs that you are maybe having problems sleeping, and therefore you might want to consider seeking help for sleep apnea. Depression and changes in personality might lead to major lifestyle changes that you wouldn't want to make. Therefore, it is important that if you feel you might be suffering from sleep apnea, you do whatever you can in order to get better.