Mar20

How Does Sleep Apnea Actually Affect Your Sleep?

Categories: Sleep Apnea

For patients who experience obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), the condition can cause a host of symptoms stemming from its impact on your quality of sleep. However, the exact ways in which sleep apnea affects your sleep quality aren’t always obvious, which is why many patients may not realize that they have sleep apnea until after receiving a professional diagnosis. Today, we take a look at just a few of the ways in which sleep apnea can consistently disturb your sleep, and what those affects can mean for your overall quality of life.

When You Have Sleep Apnea

  • The cessation of your breathing – Sleep apnea means to stop breathing while you sleep, and at its core, this is the main reason why sleep apnea is such a problem. As you sleep, oral and throat tissues fall into your airway, clogging it and preventing your breath from passing through. The lack of oxygen will force your body to wake up so it can breathe again, repeating the cycle hundreds of times a night.
  • The inability to enter R.E.M. sleep – Rapid eye movement, or R.E.M., is the deep level of sleep that your mind and body must enter to properly rest, recuperate, and rejuvenate cells. When your breathing is constantly interrupted and your body forced to correct it, you may be unable to stay at rest long enough to enter R.E.M. sleep.
  • Increased stress and health risks – Restricted oxygen and sleep deprivation make sleep apnea a significant stress factor and health risk for patients who experience it. The more stressed and unhealthy you are, the less likely you’ll be able to overcome sleep apnea and get the rest you deserve. Left untreated, sleep apnea creates a cycle of unwellness that can become increasingly harder to recover from.

Find Out if You’re Losing Sleep to Sleep Apnea

You might not immediately realize that you have a problem, but before long, sleep apnea can affect your quality of sleep in several significant ways. To find out if you have sleep apnea, call Houston Sleep Solutions in Spring, TX, at (281) 320-2000, or in Pearland, TX, at (832) 564-3508.

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