Sleep Apnea
The not so Silent Killer

What is Sleep Apnea?

This subject is right up this Doowans alley, so to speak. As I have studied sleep when I practiced medicine. What brought this to my attention. Was last night. I had gone to bed early and my mate had stay up to watch the boob tube. (T.V.) When she came to bed, I woke up and was listening to her breathing. It wasn’t long before I hear the telltale signs of Sleep Apnea the not so Silent Killer.

It can be tough to identify sleep apnea on your own, since the most prominent symptoms only occur when you’re asleep. But you can get around this difficulty by asking a bed partner to observe your sleep habits, or by recording yourself during sleep.  Your partner may know, if they knows what signs to listen for. Not everyone who snores has sleep apnea, and not everyone who has sleep apnea snores. So how do you tell the difference between garden variety snoring and a more serious case of sleep apnea?

The biggest telltale sign is how one feels during the day. Normal snoring doesn’t interfere with the quality of your sleep as much as sleep apnea does, so you’re less likely to suffer from extreme fatigue and sleepiness during the day. Your partner might if one snores loudly. However, if one wakes up exhausted after a normal nights sleep. Sleep Apnea may be the cause. Most of us snore at some point in our lives. In (Sleep Anatomy) I talked about the stages of sleep that we humans experience while we sleep. Yes, Sleep has an Anatomy, meaning we go through different stages or levels of sleep. There are even different types of sleep.  This information is in the link above.