Sleep apnea is a quite common disorder. Sleep apnea is basically a condition of periodic missing of breathing during sleep. The range of this periodic missing of breath can be a few to hundreds of times in a night. Now in this condition whenever a person stops breathing he is kind of forced to partially wake up suddenly by his brain and reminded to breathe. Since this doesn’t happen for a single time but for many times during a night, the person’s quality sleep is compromised. And lack of sleep can give birth to many other problems and diseases.

There are three types of sleep apnea.

Obstructive sleep apnea:

It is the most common form of sleep apnea. In this type of sleep apnea, there is either a partial or complete obstruction from breathing. Many times this condition is left undiagnosed only.

Again the obstructive sleep apnea may be divided further into three categories according to the amount of cessation period of breathing.

1. Mild obstructive sleep apnea: in an hour a patient suffers from 5- 15 episodes of interruptions.
2. Moderate obstructive sleep apnea: in an hour a patient suffers from 15- 30 episodes of interruptions
3. Severe obstructive sleep apnea: in an hour a patient suffers from 3 and above episodes of interruptions.

Symptoms

1. Snoring that can be counted as really loud and disruptive.
2. Breathe loss infrequent intervals of time.
3. Morning dizziness and headaches which may be due to lack of sound sleep during the night
4. State of depression can also be seen as lack of a good sleep can show up in a person’s mental well-being.

Central sleep apnea

This is a condition in which sleep is altered due to the feeling of shortness of breath. This occurs because, during an episode of interruption, the brain forgets to give instructions to breathe. This is more of a communicative disorder rather than a mechanical problem. There are some factors which cause central sleep apnea. They are:

1. Parkinson’s disease
2. Obesity
3. Heart failure
4. Certain medications such as narcotic painkillers

Certain risk factors that are involved in central sleep apnea are:

1. Men are more prone to CSA than women
2. This is a more of adult condition
3. Some people who take medications for obstructive sleep apnea may develop this condition
4. This may be a temporary condition due to altitude changes. Once they reach the normal altitude regions, this condition vanishes.

Symptoms

1. Morning headaches
2. Restless sleep
3. Snoring
4. Irregular breathing during sleep
5. Concentration problems

Mixed sleep apnea

Mixed sleep apnea is a condition of both obstructive and central sleep apnea symptoms. This condition is developed due to the treatment is taken for obstructive sleep apnea in which the area of breathing is made patent but the mind which is still in the state of obstructing the sleep forget to send a message that the breathing should be continued.

Symptoms

1. Excessive daytime drowsiness
2. Chronic fatigue
3. Morning headaches
4. Lack of concentration
5. Mood swings
6. Snoring a lot