April 01, 2025
If you toss and turn at night or wake up feeling exhausted, you might be dealing with a sleep-related breathing disorder. These conditions not only interfere with your breathing while you’re sleeping — they can also have a serious impact on your health if they’re left untreated. Here’s what you should know and how to get help.
If you have sleep apnea, you briefly stop breathing while you sleep. That results in your body not having enough oxygen, triggering a survival reflex that causes your brain to wake you up just enough to resume breathing (often without you even realizing it). Some people experience many episodes of sleep apnea every night.
Left untreated, this condition can leave you so tired that you may fall asleep while driving. It’s also linked to serious health issues like stroke, high blood pressure, heart problems, Type 2 diabetes, and liver disease.
Types of sleep apnea
• Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common sleep-related breathing disorder. It’s caused by your throat muscles relaxing and blocking the flow of air into your lungs.
• Central sleep apnea (CSA) is caused by irregularities in the signals your brain sends to the muscles that keep you breathing while you sleep.
• Treatment-emergent central sleep apnea, also called complex sleep apnea and mixed sleep apnea, is a combination of OSA and CSA. It occurs when OSA for which you’re being treated morphs into CSA.
Risk factors
Risk factors
for all types of sleep apnea include:
• Being male
• Being middle-aged or older
• Heart disorders
OSA risk factors include:
• Sleeping on your back
• Having a narrowed airway
• Having family members with OSA
• Obesity or having a thick neck
• Smoking
• Using alcohol, sedatives, and tranquilizers
• Trouble breathing through your nose
• Conditions like Type 2 diabetes and chronic lung disease
CSA risk factors include:
• Stroke
• Using narcotic pain medications
Symptoms of sleep apnea
Many
sleep apnea symptoms occur while you’re asleep. That means you might need someone else to notice
if you are snoring and choking or gasping during sleep. But there are some
symptoms you might notice yourself:
• Teeth grinding or jaw clenching
• Night sweats
• Heartburn
• Palpitations or a racing heart rate
• Frequent waking or insomnia
Other red flags for sleep apnea include:
• Waking up with a dry throat or mouth
• Morning headaches
• Poor concentration or attention
• Difficulty focusing or remembering things
• Irritability, mood changes, or depression
Sleep apnea and other sleep disorders need to be diagnosed by a specialist before treatment can begin, typically through a test known as a sleep study. While these studies have traditionally been conducted in dedicated sleep clinics, many can now be performed conveniently at home.
Treatment options
Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy is the most effective
treatment for sleep apnea. It involves using a machine that continuously
pumps air into your airway through a hose connected to a mask you put on
before going to bed.
Other treatments options include:
• Wearing an oral appliance that keeps your throat open by pushing your jaw forward.
• Doing exercises designed to strengthen your mouth, tongue, and throat muscles.
• Lifestyle changes such as losing weight, avoiding alcohol or sedatives, and changing your sleep position.
• Surgery, in some cases.
If you have sleep-related hypoventilation , you breathe too slowly or too shallowly during sleep, leading to low oxygen and high carbon dioxide levels in your blood.
Symptoms include:
• Excessive daytime sleepiness
• Morning headaches
• Poor sleep quality
• Mood disturbances
• Concentration or memory impairment
If left untreated, sleep-related hypoventilation can lead to:
• Pulmonary hypertension
• Heart enlargement and dysfunction
• Excess fluid
• Increased red blood cell count
Sleep-related hypoventilation is classified into six subtypes according to its causes, which include:
• Obesity
• Medications or substances
• Other medical disorders
• Gene mutations
• Problems with a part of your brain called the hypothalamus
Treatment options
Treatment
for this condition typically starts by addressing the root cause. Other
treatment options include using CPAP machine, BPAP (Bilevel Positive Airway
Pressure) machine, or other forms of assisted ventilation.
This condition occurs when your blood oxygen level drops during sleep, but not enough carbon dioxide builds up to be diagnosed with sleep-related hypoventilation disorder. Treatment for it focuses on addressing its causes, which can include asthma, lung disease, smoking, and obesity.
Catathrenia is a rare sleep disorder that causes you to moan or groan loudly in your sleep when you exhale. The sounds may wake you up, but you usually don’t know that you’re making them. While its cause isn’t fully understood, researchers believe it may involve faulty nerve signals in the brain’s respiratory center.
Symptoms
The condition can cause:
• Grogginess or tiredness
• Dry mouth or a sore throat
• Difficulty concentrating
Treatment options:
Catathrenia treatments include:
• Oral appliances
• CPAP machines
• Surgery, in some cases
The good news? Catathrenia might be annoying, but it isn’t dangerous. The condition has no known long-term consequences for your health.
If any of these symptoms sound familiar, don’t ignore them. Most sleep-related breathing disorders can seriously impact your long-term health if they’re left untreated. The good news is that these conditions are treatable, and help is available.
If you think you have a sleep-related breathing disorder, make an appointment with your doctor. They can help you figure out what’s causing your sleep issues and suggest the best way to treat it. Getting help doesn’t just lead to better sleep. It can also improve your heart health, help you think more clearly, and give you more energy to enjoy your day!
