What are the symptoms of sleep apnea?

So, what are sleep apnea symptoms? More than 12 million people in United States have sleep apnea. Most of them have never done something about their condition simply because they don’t know that they have sleep apnea. The word apnea has a Greek origin and it means “without breath”. A person who has this condition literally goes without breath for a maximum of one minute when they are sleeping.

This behavior can occur more than once during the whole time that they are sleeping. As a result, people who have this condition would surely not have the right amount of energy to take on their daily activities during the day. They can also experience headache, impotence, forgetfulness, heart illnesses and high blood pressure.

Symptoms of sleep apnea can certainly go unnoticed especially when you live on your own and no one is there beside you when you are sleeping. However, people who have sleep apnea are often found to snore a lot during the night. They don’t get air inside their body for a minimum of one minute because of the very relaxed position of their throats or their mouths. They even wake up for a minute or two because of the situation but they eventually continue sleeping again. As a result, they often find themselves the tired the next morning that they wake up. They can have more breathing lapses as time goes by even if they don’t experience sleep apnea on an everyday basis. Not sleeping on one’s side even causes those lapses to occur more.

Having sleep apnea can also cause you to have dryness in your mouth and even in your throat. These symptoms may be caused by the cold air inside your room but they can also be signs that you have sleep apnea. Thus, take note of these symptoms if you are usually experiencing them.

Sleep apnea can bring pain to your head as well. However, headaches can be caused by a lot of factors. They can be caused by allergies or by having a runny nose. A headache caused by sleep apnea happens on a daily basis so take note of this symptom if you find yourself in this kind of situation.

If you find it hard to concentrate on things which involve the use of your mental facilities, then there’s a great possibility that you have sleep apnea. Take note of that sign as well.

If you tend to get moody, depressed and irritable every morning when you wake up, then you most probably have sleep apnea. You are experiencing all of these things simply because you don’t get to have a blissful sleep every night.

If you are showing most of the symptoms that we have mentioned above, then you would need to act on your feet and conduct a medical evaluation on yourself. List down all the symptoms that you are experiencing in the morning and consider your medical history as well. If you are married, then bring your partner with you as you visit your doctor for a full medical check up. Also undergo a sleep study for you to know the severity of your sleep apnea.

If you have moderate or mild sleep apnea, then all you would need to do is change your lifestyle. Sleep on your side, keep away from alcoholic beverages and cigarettes and maintain a normal weight. If your sleep apnea has already gone severe, then you may wear a device to help you breath normally at night or you may undergo a surgery.

Just determine whether you have sleep apnea or not as soon as you can for you prevent your condition from getting worse by identifying sleep apnea symptoms