What is sleep apnea?
Sleep apnea is the repeated pauses in breathing that occur during sleep, and is associated with an emerging transient airway obstruction. Episodic breathing interruptions are not a problem. However, you should be concerned when such events begin to recur. Underestimating the symptoms of sleep apnea can lead to very serious health problems.
How to recognize nocturnal apnea?
The first symptom that should get your attention is loud, persistent snoring, disrupted by short pauses in breathing. Unconsciously withholding lung ventilation throughout the night rest cycle can be repeated up to several hundred times. And this, in turn, disrupts proper lung ventilation and results in hypoxia.