Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder in which a person’s breathing is interrupted throughout the night. This can be caused by a partial or complete blockage of the airway.
If you suspect you or a loved one may have sleep apnea, talk to your doctor and get a diagnosis. If your dentist suspects you have sleep apnea, they may recommend a sleep study by a medical doctor, which monitors you while you sleep. The sleep study can help determine the severity of your sleep apnea and how severe it is. And our dentist can help you with sleep apnea treatment.
Here are the most common symptoms you need to look at:
Daytime Sleepiness
If you suffer from daytime sleepiness, this could be a red flag for sleep apnea. In fact, daytime sleepiness is one of the most common symptoms of sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea causes your body to wake itself up throughout the night repeatedly. As a result, you may find yourself tired and drowsy in the middle of the day. If you suffer from daytime sleepiness, you should talk to your dentist about sleep apnea treatment.
Loud or Chronic Snoring
Snoring can be a sign of sleep apnea. This occurs when the soft tissues in the back of your throat relax too much, causing your airways to become blocked. When this happens, your breathing can stop for as long as ten seconds at a time, and this can happen as many as 30 to 60 times per hour. These pauses in breathing can occur as often as 1000 times per night.
Morning Headaches
When untreated, sleep apnea can cause morning headaches. This is because the airway is obstructed throughout the night, causing the brain not to receive enough oxygen. This lack of oxygen can also cause you to feel tired, which can contribute to fatigue and headaches in the morning.
Memory Problems
Sleep apnea causes you to stop breathing throughout the night. This deprives your body of oxygen, and that leads to a cascade of health problems. One of the most common is memory problems.
The less oxygen your brain gets, the harder it is for the cells of your brain to communicate. That results in memory problems.
Irritability or Depression
Sleep apnea can cause difficulty in falling asleep or staying asleep, as well as restless sleep. Sleep deprivation leads to irritability. A feeling of depression can also develop.
Not getting enough rest can worsen existing depression. Sleep apnea can also lead to drowsy driving and accidents, as well as problems at work.
Difficulty Concentrating
One of the signs of sleep apnea is difficulty concentrating. Sleep apnea interferes with your body’s ability to rest, which can lead to issues with concentration. The condition can make it difficult to stay alert, which can make it hard for you to concentrate.
Frequent Nighttime Urination
If you wake up several times per night to go to the bathroom, you may have sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea is a condition that causes a person to stop breathing while they are sleeping. This can happen hundreds of times a night.
When the body stops breathing, the brain will wake you up so you can breathe. This can occur many times throughout the night, causing sufferers to wake up feeling tired.