Most people breathe normally during sleep. But some people actually stop breathing while asleep. This disorder is called sleep apnea, and there are two types with the symptoms of sleep apnea being similar. Obstructive sleep apnea is caused by the physical obstruction of airflow in your throat, while central sleep apnea is caused by a neurological problem.

Up to 90% of people who have symptoms of sleep apnea do not realize they wake up several times each night in order to start breathing again. This can be terrible by itself, but any one of those times they may simply never start breathing again.

Most people can’t remember waking up or not breathing. Being unable to tell they are not breathing while asleep, most people only ever think to be checked out when their bed partner either gets annoyed at their loud snoring, or gets worried by the silence from lack of breathing, or both.

Loud snoring or sudden silence are two common symptoms of sleep apnea, there are others such as gasping for breath, waking up suddenly, and being tired after a full night’s sleep. If the bed partner manages to convince the sufferer to get it checked out, the diagnosis is usually easily made following an overnight stay at a sleep clinic.

My mother spent many years being frustrated and tired because she could not sleep thanks to my father’s very loud snoring. It could be heard two rooms away, it was so loud. After decades of irritation, my father finally caved and went to a sleep clinic to see if the snoring could be alleviated, only to receive the news that he stopped breathing 46 times in the clinic the night before. The doctor recommended that his tonsils, which were obstructing his windpipe causing both the breathing and snoring problems, be cut out, and my mother has not complained since.

Unlike obstructive sleep apnea, central sleep apnea sufferers do not have a physical obstruction of their airway, therefore they tend not to snore. They have a neurological problem causing the brain to delay the signal to breathe while they are asleep.

Whether you suffer from obstructive sleep apnea or the more deadly central sleep apnea, the symptoms of sleep apnea and the net result of either disorder is oxygen deprivation due to the lack of breathing, and poor quality sleep due to the repeated episodes of awakening to restart breathing, resulting in daytime tiredness.

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