You consider yourself a pretty normal guy or gal. You go to work in the morning and you go to bed at a reasonable hour each night. And yet lately, you’re feeling more and more tired during the day. You find it harder to concentrate while you’re on the job and you’ve noticed that you’re drinking more coffee, tea, or cola to try and perk up.
You don’t seem to have the energy you once had for going out with the guys or gals. In fact, when you think about it you can’t remember the last time you went out on a week night just to have a good time. Each day seems to bring with it more little things that make you irritable and the weekends go by so fast they don’t even seem like weekends any more.
If this sounds like your life in a nutshell, you may be suffering from the effects of sleep apnea because these are some of the symptoms of sleep apnea.
Obstructive sleep apnea (also known as OSA) is a sleeping disorder that interferes with your breathing. During the night, your airway becomes blocked by an over-relaxation of the muscle tissue in your throat. That blockage literally causes you to stop breathing. After a number of seconds, your brain detects that the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in your body is out of whack and takes action. It arouses you from your sleep which causes you to unblock your airway and resume normal breathing.
With your normal breathing restored, you drift back into a deeper sleep but after a time, your airway becomes blocked again and the scenario repeats itself. This cycle can occur dozens or even hundreds of times during the night which means as a sleep apnea sufferer, you’ll spend most of your time bouncing between wakefulness and a light sleep state. That means not getting enough of the deep sleep you need to fully rejuvenate your body. And without the proper rest, you end up feeling increasingly more tired during the day, less able to concentrate, and more short-tempered.
Because all of this happens while you sleep, it’s very possible that you’re completely unaware of it. You may never fully wake up during a sleep apnea episode and therefore never suspect that OSA is the true cause of your lack of energy, etc. For all you know, you sleep peacefully throughout the night. That makes diagnosing the symptoms of sleep apnea extremely difficult if you’re on your own.
If you have a sleep partner, the diagnosis can be much easier because if you’ve been suffering from sleep apnea for any length of time, your partner will probably be acutely aware of it. That’s because he or she will have had their own sleep disturbed by your symptoms. So your partner can be instrumental in answering the following questions to determine if you are experiencing the symptoms of sleep apnea.
Do you snore?
While snoring itself doesn’t automatically mean you suffer from sleep apnea, it is one of the key indicators. Snoring occurs because the airway is partially blocked and prolonged snoring is bound to have disturbed your sleep partner enough so they’re well aware that it occurs even if you aren’t. If you’re a big snorer and you’re suffering the fatigue, concentration and mood issues listed above, you may be a sleep apnea sufferer.
Do you stop breathing at night?
Again, your sleep partner can be a big help here though they may not be aware of your breathing stoppages either. Occasionally, you can become aware of these stoppages yourself because you wake up just enough when they occur to recognize them for what they are. In either case, whether your sleep partner recognizes them or you do yourself, these kinds of stoppages mean you’re probably an OSA sufferer.
Do you struggle to concentrate during the day?
Lack of concentration by itself doesn’t mean you’re a sleep apnea sufferer. But if there are no other underlying reasons why your focus should drift – for instance your personal life is relatively stable, stress levels are normal, etc., then walking through your days in a sort of mental haze could be a symptom of sleep apnea. This would tend to sneak up on you over time so comparing your current concentration levels with what they were months ago would be more indicative of what’s truly happening in your life.
What you can do
Since obstructive sleep apnea can lead to serious health issues, you should treat the possibility that you suffer from OSA as serious. Speak to your doctor about what you’re experiencing – especially by being specific about what you’re experiencing with regard to the symptoms of sleep apnea listed above. The more specific you can be about what’s happening to you, the better position your doctor can be in to help you.
He or she may direct you to a specialist in sleep disorders who would do a complete historical work-up of your symptoms and experiences. From there, they may prescribe a course of CPAP therapy. Your doctor may also direct you to a sleep lab that specializes in analyzing sleep habits and patterns. They study you while you sleep and can precisely diagnose all manner of sleep disorders. They too are well-versed with CPAP.
In any case, you need to take some action if you think you have sleep apnea. Because, if left untreated, sleep apnea can contribute to much more serious health problems, for instance, congestive heart failure or strokes. That reason alone should be enough for you to evaluate your own possible symptoms of sleep apnea and consult with a trusted medical professional.
