Having obstructive sleep apnea increases your risk of high blood pressure (hypertension). Obstructive sleep apnea might also increase your risk of recurrent heart attack, stroke and abnormal heartbeats, such as atrial fibrillation.
The three main warning signs of obstructive sleep apnea are:
Sleep Apnea Syndrome Can Be Life Threatening If your loud snoring is disturbing either you or your partner, then it may be time to see a doctor about apnea. Sleep apnea syndrome is a serious sleep disorder that occurs when breathing frequently stops for brief periods throughout the night.
Surgery can be used to treat severe obstructive sleep apnea, which can sometimes cure it, but not in every case. Sleep apnea is a condition in which people stop breathing for short periods during sleep.
Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when your breathing is interrupted during sleep, for longer than 10 seconds at least 5 times per hour (on average) throughout your sleep period. These periods are called hypopneas when your breathing is reduced and you're not taking in enough oxygen.
The pathophysiology of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is complex and incompletely understood. A narrowed upper airway is very common among OSA patients, and is usually in adults due to nonspecific factors such as fat deposition in the neck, or abnormal bony morphology of the upper airway.
Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder that happens when a person's breathing is interrupted during sleep. People with untreated sleep apnea stop breathing repeatedly during their sleep, sometimes hundreds of times during the night.
Apnea is defined by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) as the cessation of airflow for at least 10 seconds. Apnea may last for 30 seconds or even longer.