Sleep Apnea & Snoring

Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder that affects millions of Americans.

People with this condition momentarily stop breathing while asleep because the muscles that control your upper airway relax too much, narrowing or even completely blocking your airway.

This struggle to breathe—which results in snoring—can occur several hundred times each night which explains why your body is exhausted, night after night even after 8 to 10 hours of sleep. Left untreated, sleep apnea has been linked to heart problems, high blood pressure, diabetes, weight gain, depression, impotence, and even sudden death while sleeping.

People of all ages can develop sleep apnea, and most don’t realize they have it unless a family member gets irritated by disruptive snoring or a nurse notices a sleep disruption during a hospital stay. It is most common for people who are overweight or have a large neck which constricts the upper airway.