ANCSLEEP BLOG

What are the Types of Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a medical sleep disorder where you stop breathing for short periods (10 seconds or longer) throughout the night. When you stop breathing, your brain eventually rouses your body and you wake up. This results in you getting a poor night's rest because you wake up so many times during the night.

There are three types of sleep apnea:

1. (most common) Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA): there is a physical obstruction that blocks the airway
2. (uncommon) Central sleep apnea: electrical malfunction in the brain causes you to stop breathing
3. (rare) Complex sleep apnea: a mix of both central and obstructive sleep apnea

These sleep apneas have many negative side effects, most notably:

• General loss of performance in all life activities
• Lower life expectancy
• Correlations with diabetes and obesity
• Chronic irritation, depression, anxiety, and low stress management threshold

Let's look at obstructive sleep apnea vs. central sleep apnea in more detail.

When Snoring is a Personal Problem, Not Just a Nuisance

Is your or your partner’s snoring the primer for family jokes? Does your loud snoring come with an “earplugs required” caveat for your partner? Is your snoring the rule, not the exception?

Chronic, loud snoring may be a bigger personal problem than just a nuisance for other people who have to listen to your nightly nasally noises. In other words, while their sleep might be disrupted, your snoring might be caused by a medical condition called sleep apnea, which can have significant health consequences. Or, maybe you are just a loud, chronic snorer.

Knowing the difference and telltale signs between loud snoring and sleep apnea is important, as identifying the potential problem underlying your chronic snoring is the first step to getting healthy again.

Snoring is one of the most well-known symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The reason why so many sleep apnea sufferers snore is due to the tissues in the back of the throat relaxing and blocking the airway. When the airway becomes blocked, a vibration occurs and creates a sound known as snoring. Snoring can be influenced by a person's anatomy, weight, and lifestyle factors such as alcohol consumption.

However, with as many as 90 million Americans suffering from snoring, it may not always be a sign that an individual has OSA. To know whether or not you or your partner have obstructive sleep apnea, you must be aware of the other symptoms that happen with snoring and necessitates a diagnosis of sleep apnea.

What is Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a condition where your breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. There are three types of sleep apnea:

1. Obstructive sleep apnea
2. Central sleep apnea
3. Complex sleep apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea is when the upper airway becomes blocked during sleep. This blockage greatly reduces or completely stops airflow, and is usually accompanied by loud snoring.

Central sleep apnea is a type of sleep apnea that happens when the brain does not send signals needed to breathe during sleep. This type of sleep apnea is not accompanied by snoring. Sometimes, a person can have both obstructive and central sleep apnea, which is called (3) complex sleep apnea syndrome.

Obstructive sleep apnea is far more common than the other types. Continue reading to learn how OSA  can affect mood.

Individuals who struggle with diabetes could also be struggling with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Over the past two decades, more research has illuminated the fact that many symptoms of diabetes are common to those in OSA. These similarities include:

• Metabolic conditions

• Obesity

• Glucose intolerance

• Cardiovascular complications

Because both OSA and diabetes present many of the same symptoms, untreated OSA can significantly aggravate diabetes risk factors if OSA is left untreated. Fortunately, there are paths to a diagnosis and a variety of OSA treatment options available that can alleviate symptoms and potentially save lives for those suffering from OSA and diabetes.

Those who know little about sleep apnea oftentimes don't know how exactly it relates to changes in blood pressure. However, sleep apnea can cause a significant and sometimes dangerous increase in blood pressure.

Sleep apnea is defined by the National Sleep Foundation as "a sleep disorder in which breathing is briefly and repeatedly interrupted during sleep." Blood pressure is technically defined as the strength of one's blood pushing against the sides of blood vessels (also known as one's systolic blood pressure).

If an individual has untreated sleep apnea, there is a much greater chance that he or she may develop high blood pressure. Both sleep apnea and high blood pressure can lead to the development of life-threatening conditions.

More and more research is being released indicating a connection between sleep apnea and diabetes. Specifically, obstructive sleep apnea (also known as OSA and defined as when the muscles in the throat relax and block the airway during sleep) has been proven time and time again to play a direct part in causing insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, and type 2 diabetes. Individuals who are diagnosed with or may have obstructive sleep apnea are therefore at risk for developing both symptoms of OSA in addition to a long-term metabolic disorder.

Sleep apnea, a disorder where an individual's breathing recurrently starts and stops, impacts an estimated 22 million Americans. Shockingly, approximately 80% of those affected have moderate or severe obstructive sleep apnea and are undiagnosed. Given these statistics, it's alarming to know that sleep apnea can trigger side effects that can cause harm to a critical organ in your body: the brain.

What is Sleep Apnea

There are three types of sleep apnea. (1) Obstructive sleep apnea is caused when the upper airway becomes blocked during sleep. This blockage greatly reduces or completely stops airflow, and is usually accompanied by loud snoring.

(2) Central sleep apnea is a type of sleep apnea that is caused when the brain does not send signals to the respiratory muscles needed to breathe during sleep. This type of sleep apnea is not accompanied by snoring.

Sometimes, a person can have both obstructive and central sleep apneas, which is called (3) complex sleep apnea syndrome.

What is Sleep Apnea?

According to The National Sleep Foundation, sleep apnea is defined as “a sleep disorder in which breathing is briefly and repeatedly interrupted during sleep.”

The three most prevalent types of sleep apnea are:

• Obstructive sleep apnea: The most commonly known type of sleep apnea marked by the relaxation of the throat muscles (accounting for about 85% of all cases)
• Central sleep apnea: A rarer condition wherein the the brain fails to send the correct signals to muscles that control breathing (accounting for less than 1% of cases)
• Complex sleep apnea syndrome: Diagnosed when someone has both obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea