Over twelve million people have been diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea in the United States.
It is estimated however that over 80% of the people who have sleep apnea remain undiagnosed and suffer with the symptoms while not knowing the central cause is a sleep disorder.
There are three main types of sleep apnea:
- Obstructive sleep apnea, when throat muscles relax enough that the pharynx area of your throat is completely obstructed for periods of a minute or more.
- Central sleep apnea, which is central nervous system-driven, and where your brain fails to send the proper signals to the muscles of the pharynx which control breathing and the management of the airway to the lungs.
- Mixed sleep apnea, when someone has both obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea.
The signs and symptoms of obstructive and central sleep apneas overlap, sometimes making the type of sleep apnea impossible to determine without a sleep study. The most common signs and symptoms of obstructive and central sleep apneas are:
- Loud snoring
- Episodes of breathing cessation
- Abruptly awakening accompanied by shortness of breath
- Awakening with a dry mouth or sore throat
- Regular morning headaches
- Insomnia
- Excessive daytime sleepiness even after a full night’s sleep
- Attention deficit problems
- Irritability and a lack of emotional resiliency
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