Not everyone realizes when they have trouble sleeping peacefully. Sleep occurs in various stages, and sometimes, you can remain unconscious while never reaching the deeper levels of sleep that matter most. For example, if you suffer from obstructive sleep apnea, then the consistent cessation of your breathing can interrupt your sleeping pattern more severely than you realize. Today, we explain why that matters so much to your overall wellbeing, and why addressing your sleep apnea problem could be more important than you know.

What having sleep apnea means

Obstructive sleep apnea is a type of sleep breathing disorder, which means it impacts the quality of your sleep by directly impacting your breathing pattern. If you have obstructive sleep apnea, it means your oral or throat tissues collapse into your airway as you sleep, forcing you to stop breathing. This obstruction is gradual, and sleep apnea is often marked by increasingly louder snoring as it increases. Once the obstruction is complete and you can no longer breathe, the snoring stops and the real problem begins. It can take several moments for your brain and body to realize that it has stopped receiving oxygen. When they do, they’ll wake just enough to clear the airway and start breathing again before settling back into sleep.

Interrupting sleep every night

The biggest problems with sleep apnea include the fact that you may not realize you have it, despite the obstruction to your sleep occurring every night. In fact, you can stop breathing hundreds of times in a single night, making it impossible to ever reach deep levels of sleep so you can rest properly. Because of this, many people may not realize they have sleep apnea until it begins to have a noticeable impact on their daily lives. This often takes the form of common symptoms of sleep deprivation, despite believing that you’re sleeping peacefully every night.

Signs that you have sleep apnea

In addition to the excessively loud snoring that precedes sleep apnea episodes every night, you might also notice you have sleep apnea by the occurrences of symptoms such as:

• Tiredness and fatigue
• Daytime drowsiness and exhaustion
• Increased irritability
• Mood swings
• Diminished ability to concentrate
• Difficulty thinking clearly or remembering things
• And more

Learn how to address your sleep apnea

If you have sleep apnea, then its impact on your daily life and sleep quality can grow increasingly worse until you treat it. To learn more, schedule a consultation by calling the Dental Centre of Conroe in Conroe, TX, today at (936) 441-4600. We serve patients from Conroe and all neighboring communities.