Sleep Apnea

So what is sleep apnea? Well as you probably know what sleep is, I'll tell you what apnea is.

Apnea means: not breathing. When you suffer from sleep apnea, your breathing slows or stops when you are sleeping. This can happen about 300 times a night. The throat relaxes and it cannot hold its weight so it collapses. There is not enough oxygen reaching the lungs and when the oxygen levels become too low your breathing starts again. Usually only adults have sleep apnea, but as kids are becoming more overweight, they too are having sleep problems.

How do you know if you have sleep apnea? Are you tired in the day? Do you have headaches? Is anybody complaining about your loud snoring or that there is a gap of time (about 20 seconds) after snoring where there is silence? Sometimes you cannot concentrate in the day because you are so tired and become nervous, moody and depressed. Luckily, if it is mild, just losing weight and sleeping on your side may solve the problem.

What happens if you don't treat severe sleep apnea? Well if your oxygen levels become too low you may have a heart attack or stroke due to the lack of oxygen to your brain and heart. Luckily it is easily treated with a special mask called a CPAP ( continuous positive pressure airway) mask. You wear it when you sleep and it works by forcing your airway to stay open with air pressure. Though, the best treatment of all is to lose weight.