Sleep Apnea (from Greek, meaning "without breath") is one of the most common sleep disorders in which breathing stops and then restarts again recurrently during slumber. Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), occurs when the airway temporarily collapses during sleep, preventing or restricting breathing for up to ten seconds or more. OSA patients will commonly suffer from low oxygen levels in the blood, high blood pressure and an overall decrease in the quality of life due to daytime drowsiness and headaches. Breathing pauses can last from a few seconds to minutes. Such events can occur several hundred times a night severely disrupting sleep.

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More about Sleep Apnea?

Typically, normal breathing then starts again, sometimes with a loud snort or choking sound. The term "sleep-disordered breathing" (SDB) includes a spectrum of respiratory disorders ranging in severity from snoring to OSA.

Sleep apnea usually is a chronic (ongoing) condition that disrupts your sleep 3 or more nights each week. You often move out of deep sleep and into light sleep when your breathing pauses or becomes shallow.

This results in poor sleep quality that makes you tired during the day. Sleep apnea is one of the leading causes of excessive daytime sleepiness.

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