Certainly snoring is a symptom, but lots of people just plain snore. Sleep apnea is when you cannot breathe properly or sufficiently while you are asleep.
Typically, your oral breathing pathway is closed by a combination of tonsils, tongue, and uvula/soft palate, so you are forced to breathe through your nose. If you can't (or simply don't) breathe through your nose, you end up forcing air through the nearly closed-off oral pathway. If you cannot get sufficient air this way, you wake up just enough to take a breath. A person with sleep apnea may wake anywhere from once to 60 times per hour to breathe. The victim may not come to full consciousness, and will likely not remember most of these waking episodes.
For most people, sleep occurs in cycles of four phases, the fourth being the deepest, and includes REM sleep when dreams occur and the body is most efficient at resting and healing. But it takes about 90 minutes to reach REM, so the sleep apnea victim never gets to the deep sleep -- the frequent waking keeps restarting the cycle.
Symptoms include loud snoring, frequent cessation of breathing (while sleeping) followed by gasping or sudden inhalation, frequent tiredness or need for naps during the day, lack of focus, loss of short term memory, lack of dreams. Other risk factors include being male and being overweight.
Sleep apnea, if left untreated, is connected to higher risk of heart disease, stroke, being overweight, and other conditions.
The primary treatment for apnea is a CPAP machine which blows air through the nose, keeping the passage way open. It takes some getting used to, and doesn't work for everyone. The air compressor uses general household air, with a HEPA filter, and is fairly quiet. If CPAP doesn't work, surgerical treatments may help, including tonsilectomy and uvula-ectomy.
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Certainly snoring is a symptom, but lots of people just plain snore. Sleep apnea is when you cannot breathe properly or sufficiently while you are asleep.
Typically, your oral breathing pathway is closed by a combination of tonsils, tongue, and uvula/soft palate, so you are forced to breathe through your nose. If you can't (or simply don't) breathe through your nose, you end up forcing air through the nearly closed-off oral pathway. If you cannot get sufficient air this way, you wake up just enough to take a breath. A person with sleep apnea may wake anywhere from once to 60 times per hour to breathe. The victim may not come to full consciousness, and will likely not remember most of these waking episodes.
For most people, sleep occurs in cycles of four phases, the fourth being the deepest, and includes REM sleep when dreams occur and the body is most efficient at resting and healing. But it takes about 90 minutes to reach REM, so the sleep apnea victim never gets to the deep sleep -- the frequent waking keeps restarting the cycle.
Symptoms include loud snoring, frequent cessation of breathing (while sleeping) followed by gasping or sudden inhalation, frequent tiredness or need for naps during the day, lack of focus, loss of short term memory, lack of dreams. Other risk factors include being male and being overweight.
Sleep apnea, if left untreated, is connected to higher risk of heart disease, stroke, being overweight, and other conditions.
The primary treatment for apnea is a CPAP machine which blows air through the nose, keeping the passage way open. It takes some getting used to, and doesn't work for everyone. The air compressor uses general household air, with a HEPA filter, and is fairly quiet. If CPAP doesn't work, surgerical treatments may help, including tonsilectomy and uvula-ectomy.
Check out the American Sleep Apnea Association website for more info.