Quick Guide to Sleep Apnoea

Once you spend a night with someone, you should be able to tell the difference between whether they have sleep apnoea or whether they just have a bit of a snoring problem. Typical snoring is caused by the relaxation and vibration of muscles in the throat and mouth, but for someone who has sleep apnoea the noises made are a bit different.

For one, the noises made by someone who has sleep apnoea tend to be much louder than most people who snore but do not have this condition. There will also be brief pauses at the height of the snore where the person stops breathing momentarily. Gasps for air are typical as well.

Someone without sleep apnoea will not gasp for air or stop breathing completely during the night but someone with the condition will typically do it over and over. This is what makes the condition so serious as it can lead to sudden death during sleep.

The primary cause of sleep apnoea is excessive fat around the throat. When someone with the condition goes to sleep their muscles in the back of the mouth and neck relax and allow the fat to press around the airways that travel between the mouth, throat, and lungs. This means less air is able to pass through and complete breathing blocks occur over and over.

When a doctor believes a patient may have this condition they send them for an overnight sleep study to verify the diagnosis. The patient is then fitted with a CPAP machine that will keep the airways open so that the snoring stops and breathing is not interrupted.

The long term solution is for the sleep apnoea patient to lose weight since excessive fat and obesity is the leading cause of the condition.