Sleep Apnea

The most serious form of snoring is known as obstructive sleep apnea. This is the name for loud snoring interrupted by frequent episodes of totally obstructed breathing. This is serious if the episodes last greater than ten seconds and occur more than seven times per hour. Your physician may recommend a laboratory sleep study as a way of evaluating your symptoms.

Apnea patients may experience 30-300 events per night, and many spend as much as half of their sleep time with blood oxygen levels below normal. During their obstructive episodes, the heart must pump harder to circulate the blood faster. This can cause irregular heart beats, and after many years leads to elevated blood pressure and heart enlargement. The immediate effect of oxygen starvation is that the person must sleep in a lighter stage and tense his muscles enough to open his airway to get into his lungs. Since snorers with severe sleep apnea are often unaware of it, laboratory sleep study may be the only way to discover it. Persons with obstructive sleep apnea may speed little in the deep sleep stages that are essential for a good rest. They then awaken unrefreshed and are sleepy much of the day. They may fall asleep when driving to work or while on the job.