Sleep apnea occurs when a person stops breathing during sleep. Most commonly, it occurs when sleeping on their back or side, and it is called “snoring” apnea. This disease occurs in as many as 10% of all adults and teenagers, who often do not know they have it. So, how do you know if you have sleep apnea?
Your heart rate will increase during sleep. It does not just happen by itself. Breathing will become shallow and short, and the face will become stiff.
Two other very important symptoms are snoring and sleepiness during the day. You can hear your own heartbeat, but if you lay on your back, you will most likely to snore heavily. You will be feeling drowsy during the day.
Some people also have the condition of hypnagogia, which means that they are unable to keep their mouth shut while asleep, causing low-end airway pressure. It is this situation that sets up a situation where your jaw and tongue fall out of their normal position while sleeping. This is known as a “car crash” mouth, and it makes you very sleepy and light-headed during the day. In rare cases, a person may have both hypnagogia and hypophagia.
The actual symptoms can be found in one of two ways. Either you can find yourself with an aching jaw, a lazy face, a tendency to sleep on your back, or just sleep very heavily and very shallowly.
If you are getting these types of symptoms, you may want to get checked out by a doctor. These symptoms could be a sign of a serious problem, such as sleep apnea, that needs further examination.
A simple measure of sleep apnea is to check your pulse and check your throat. If you do not have an abnormally slow pulse, or very little throat movement while sleeping, you do not have sleep apnea. However, if you feel as though you have problems breathing while sleeping, you should get checked out by a doctor.
An additional condition known as obstructive sleep apnea is a bit more serious. If you have this type of sleep apnea, your doctor may recommend that you receive a CPAP machine, which is a machine that allows you to get your oxygen levels regulated when you need it most.
Most people have a tendency to snore. That does not mean that you have sleep apnea. This condition is caused by a few different things, including obesity, sleep disorders, and airway blockage in the throat, and a certain amount of snoring.
There are various types of treatments for sleep apnea. Many of them focus on relaxing the muscles of the throat and relaxing the jaw and tongue. You may need surgery in some situations, and others may use a device to aid in regulating the flow of oxygen to the brain during sleep.
Sometimes it can be hard to tell whether you do have sleep apnea because it is not always easy to pinpoint the cause. There are several tests that can be done to diagnose it, such as performing a simple test called “cough frequency,” which is simply counting how many times you cough while sleeping.