Sleep Apnea Symptoms
Sleep apnea symptoms appear only during sleep, making it impossible for those suffering from the condition to be fully aware of the disorder. The most common signs people should be aware of include: excessive sleepiness during the day, and repeated shortness of breath while sleeping. Your bed partner may be the first one to notice these apnea indicators
There are three classifications of sleep apnea symptoms: obstructive, central and mixed. Obstructive is the most common sleep apnea. It involves the relaxation of the throat muscles to the point of obstructing the airway. Sleep apnea symptoms include excessive daytime sleepiness, loud snoring, abrupt awakenings accompanied by shortness of breath, morning headache, difficulty staying asleep, awakening with dry mouth or sore throat.
Loud snoring is one of the most common sleep apnea symptoms. Loud snoring, especially snorting could be worth investigating. With obstructive sleep apnea, sleep apnea symptoms result from the throat muscles relaxing so far as to collapse the windpipe upon inhaling. When the brain triggers the muscles to tighten to breathe again, the arousal is accompanied by a snort.
Observed episodes of breathing cessation during sleep are the less easily noticed sleep apnea symptoms. This means that someone else actually witnessed the sleeper stop breathing. Abrupt awakening with shortness of breath after these episodes is more often a central sleep apnea symptom, than of obstructive, which means the brain, is not sending proper signals to the breathing muscles.
Morning headache, along with dry mouth and sore throat are sleep apnea symptoms resulting from lack of oxygen to the brain, and the frequent gasps for air when breathing is resumed. In addition, mental impairment from restlessness and interrupted sleep can result in memory lapses, problems concentrating, personality changes and even depression.
Difficulty staying asleep is one of the sleep apnea symptoms directly related to the frequent awaken signals issued by the brain. When the blood oxygen level drops, the body responds, arousing the sleeper long enough to resume breathing. The sleep pattern, therefore, is frequently interrupted resulting in restlessness.
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