SLEEP APNEA
Nearly 54 million adults in the U.S. have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a chronic condition that occurs when your muscles relax during sleep, allowing soft tissue to collapse and block the airway. This can cause you to stop breathing hundreds of times per night for anywhere from a few seconds to more than a minute at a time. These breathing pauses are followed by brief awakenings that disturb your sleep and can result in excessive daytime sleepiness.
SYMPTOMS OF OSA
Symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea include loud or frequent snoring or silent pauses in breathing and choking or gasping sounds. Other common symptoms include:
- Waking in the morning feeling unrefreshed
- Being tired during the day
- Morning headaches
- Waking up frequently at night to go to the bathroom
- Difficulty concentrating or remembering things
The Importance of Treating OSA
When selecting a treatment option, it is important that you pick an option you will use. When OSA is left untreated, it often causes excessive daytime sleepiness and fatigue, as well as morning headaches and memory loss. Sleep apnea also is a threat to the safety of you and others, as it increases your risk of drowsy driving and workplace accidents. Untreated sleep apnea has been linked to serious health problems such as:
- High Blood Pressure
- Stroke
- Heart Issues
- Blood Sugar & Metabolism
- Cancer
- Mental Health & Alzheimers
- Impaired Cognitive Function
- Fatigue & Accidents
- Immune Health
