Symptoms of sleep apnea include loud snoring, choking or gasping sensations when breathing, restless sleep, memory problems, morning headaches, depression and/or mood swings. In some cases, people with obstructive sleep apnea experience high blood pressure or heart disease. Other symptoms of sleep apnea include a loud or persistent snoring and breath pauses during sleep. Mood changes and trouble concentrating are also common. If you are suffering from these symptoms, talk to your doctor.
Obstructive sleep apnea is when there’s an obstruction or blockage in the throat that causes reduced or interrupted breathing during sleep. Hypopnea is a less severe form of this condition.
1. Restless Sleep
The most common sleep-related breathing disorder is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). It causes your airways to narrow or block during sleep. This leads to pauses in breathing and loud choking or gasping sounds. It can lead to daytime sleepiness and affect your memory and thinking abilities. It also increases your risk of heart problems, such as atrial fibrillation and coronary artery disease.
Other symptoms include waking up repeatedly during the night. You might not remember these waking episodes, but a spouse or other family member might notice. Another symptom is unusual breathing patterns, such as Cheyne-Stokes respiration or an irregular breathing pattern. These signs can also indicate OSA.
2. Frequent Nighttime Urination
A person with obstructive sleep apnea will often awaken several times each night to urinate. This condition is called nocturia, and it can cause serious problems if untreated.
Your doctor will probably recommend healthy lifestyle changes, including losing weight, avoiding alcohol and smoking, eating a balanced diet, and getting the recommended amount of sleep each night. These can help to alleviate some of the symptoms of sleep apnea and prevent it from worsening over time.
3. Difficulty Breathing
Sleep apnea causes breathing to stop or slow down repeatedly during the night, resulting in low levels of oxygen. It can lead to snoring, restless sleep and daytime drowsiness.
The most common type of sleep apnea is called obstructive sleep apnea. It occurs when your airway gets blocked by a physical blockage such as a narrow throat or large tonsils, enlarged adenoids or a thick neck.
Less common is central sleep apnea, which involves problems with the brain’s ability to send proper signals to your muscles. This type of sleep apnea may affect any stage of sleep but is most common in Stage 1 and REM sleep.
4. Mood Swings
If you or a loved one experiences snoring, pauses in breathing or the feeling of being choked during sleep, you should ask your doctor about sleep disorders. They may refer you to a sleep specialist or order home testing for obstructive sleep apnea.
The pauses and gasps of sleep apnea disrupt sleep, and cause blood oxygen levels to drop. To avoid the lack of oxygen, your brain triggers a survival reflex that wakes you up and causes you to breathe rapidly for a short period.
Repeated pauses and low oxygen can lead to memory problems, depression and anxiety. Research also shows that sleep apnea can lower levels of the neurotransmitter GABA, which has a calming effect on our moods.
5. Dry Mouth
People with sleep apnea often experience a dry mouth and throat. This may be due to a narrowing or obstruction of the airway. Loud snoring is another common sign of sleep apnea, although it doesn’t happen in all cases. Untreated obstructive sleep apnea can cause high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and diabetes. It can also increase the risk of arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation – a life-threatening condition that can cause heart failure and stroke.
Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when the throat muscles relax and pinch off the airway, making breathing difficult and lowering oxygen levels in the blood. People who are overweight, use narcotic drugs or have had a stroke are at higher risk of this type of sleep apnea.
6. Insomnia
People with sleep apnea often stop breathing repeatedly throughout the night. Most have obstructive sleep apnea, which occurs when something physically blocks the throat. A small percentage have central sleep apnea, which is due to a signaling problem in the brain. The episodes of pauses in breathing are short but may cause feelings of gasping and choking. They may also wake you up with jerking body movements or be reported by your partner.
The condition can affect anyone, but certain factors increase the risk, including obesity, a thick neck, and the inherited tendency to have narrow throats. If you suspect you have obstructive sleep apnea, you can undergo a medical test to diagnose it or take a home test.