What Should I Know About Sleep Apnea?

Sleep apnea is a breathing disorder that affects millions of Americans. The word “apnea” translates to “without breath,” which is an apt description since it causes people to stop breathing potentially hundreds of times every night. The long term effects of this could lead to heart disease, cardiovascular problems, and stroke, so make sure to seek treatment from our sleep apnea dentist.

There are three types of sleep apnea: obstructive, central, and a mix of the two. Obstructive is the most common, and it is the result of the tongue or other soft tissues collapsing into the airways and blocking air flow. Central sleep apnea occurs when the proper signal are not sent to the brain that tell it to continue breathing while you sleep. The result is the same for any kind of sleep apnea: the person will stop breathing in the middle of the night, causing the person to wake up. Usually, this waking is so brief that the sufferer will not even realize they have a disorder.

Since it may be difficult on your own to determine whether you have sleep apnea, your bed partner should tell you if you snore at night. Snoring, along with any of the other symptoms, could be reason enough to get a diagnosis from our Northridge sleep apnea dentist.