Do you find yourself waking up at night gasping for air? Maybe your significant other tells you that your snoring annoys them. Do you feel excessively tired or sleepy during your day? These are signs of possible sleep apnea and can have health impacts beyond just affecting your quality of sleep.
Obstructive sleep Apnea (OSA) is a condition where you have repeated episodes of upper airway collapse and obstruction during sleep associated with arousal from sleep and possibly oxygen desaturation. The airway obstruction can be partial or complete. Sleep is fragmented from these episodes, which can number five to more than 30 per hour. It is actually considered normal to have a few of these mild apnea events every night. Five to 14 apnea events per hour during sleep is considered mild, 15 to 30 is moderate and over 30 is severe.
OSA is prevalent but the studies are mixed on just what percentage of the population actually suffer from it. It is clear that more men than women have OSA as well as more elderly than young. Depending on what study you read, anywhere from 20-40% of men and 10-23% of women have OSA. Some studies show more black men than white men have OSA while others show no difference at all. Chinese men do have a higher prevalence as well as possibly native Americans.
