Did you know that sleep apnea is a condition that can potentially become life threatening? Because your airways are literally blocked during a sleep apnea episode, you literally might wake up gasping for air - and this can happen several times during the course of one night of sleep. Here are some of the other dangers which are often associated with sleep apnea:

high blood pressure
heart disease
Type II diabetes
adult asthma
gaining weight
metabolic syndrome
extreme sleepiness in the daytime
loss of memory
accidents, even including automobile accidents due to your sleepy condition
depression

All of these factors can be exacerbated by sleep apnea. Conditions, as you can see, can be quite dangerous. That makes it important that you get diagnosed if you suspect you might have sleep apnea.

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Symptoms of Sleep Apnea

It's not difficult to determine that someone has sleep apnea, but still it often goes undiagnosed, simply because most of the symptoms occur during the night when people are sleeping. That means, for the most part, sleep apnea has to be detected by your partner, who is conscious and aware of your symptoms, while you sleep. The most obvious symptom associated with sleep apnea is a temporary stoppage of breathing.

This is usually followed by some kind of stirring action on the part of the affected person, and when the activity has subsided, breathing may resume normally. Snoring is another tell-tale sign of obstructive sleep apnea, since the airway obstruction which causes snoring sometimes also triggers a complete blockage of the airway. This is when a person might wake up gasping for air.

Other possible signs of sleep apnea include grogginess and sleepiness during the daytime, often accompanied by irritability or inattentiveness, because the person didn't get a good night's sleep that night. Since a person doesn't get the good night's sleep they should, they might wake up with dry mouth or headaches on a fairly consistent basis. If you have any of these symptoms of sleep apnea, you should check with your partner about it, or participate in a sleep observation study to find out one way or the other.

Treatments for Sleep Apnea

There are seven (7) effective and very common treatments for sleep apnea, some of which might cure, but all of them can be fairly effective. First of all, your doctor might recommend continuous positive airway pressure CPAP machines
for use at night. This machine has a mask attached to a hose, and it can improve your night time breathing, assuring you that you’re getting the rest that your body requires. It generally takes some getting used to, but if you reach the point where you can tolerate it, you will undoubtedly sleep much better and maintain better overall health. There are also some mild appliances which can be used, which can eliminate the need for the bulky CPAP machines. Nerve stimulators are sometimes recommended for keeping airways open. There are also several possible surgeries which might be performed. If you’re concerned you may have sleep apnea, you should have a serious conversation with your doctor about which of these options might be best for you. Once you know that you have sleep apnea, you need to do something about it, so that all the dangerous side effects can be avoided.