Wake Up to the Effects of Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Obstructive sleep apnea is a condition that can lead to serious health problems if undetected. It causes the soft tissue in the rear of the throat to narrow and repeatedly close during sleep. The brain responds to each of these “apnea events” by waking the person in order to resume breathing. Since apnea events can happen hundreds of times per night, sleep becomes broken and ineffective. An estimated 18 million Americans are thought to have clinically significant obstructive sleep apnea and, even more alarming, about 16 million of those people remain undiagnosed.
If undiagnosed, sleep apnea can cause high blood pressure, cardiac disease, impotency, behavior and thinking problems, and may be responsible for many job-related injuries. It’s estimated that people with sleep apnea are 10 times more likely to die in a car accident than someone without sleep apnea. The resources in this section will provide you with details about obstructive sleep apnea. As always, be sure to see your physician to diagnosis of your condition.
Facts About Obstructive Sleep Apnea