What happens when you stop breathing during sleep?

Patients with sleep apnea can wake up 5-30 times per hour and it is difficult to reach a deep sleep stage which can lead to exhaustion.

Sleep apnea is relatively common, affecting 5-10% of adults and 2-3% of young children. It is caused by soft tissue components such as the tongue and cartilage of the oropharynx that fall into the airway, reducing the upper airway size, obstructing air flow and reducing nerve signals to the internal respiratory muscles. when sleeping

According to BuzzFeed, if you have sleep apnea, your brain quickly realizes that your body lacks oxygen and wakes you up to breathe through signs such as snorting or gasping. This phenomenon can occur 5-30 times per hour.

The severity or mildness of sleep apnea depends on the number of times you wake up to breathe . Specifically, waking up 5-15 times an hour is considered light, 15-30 times an average and 30 times or more is heavy. Some patients only sleep about 10 seconds before they stop breathing and wake up 200 times per hour.

Waking up to breathe breaks the sleep cycle, preventing you from falling into a deep sleep and forcing you to start another sleep cycle each time you return. As a result, patients with sleep apnea never reach the deepest recovery stages of sleep. They often wake up in both physical and mental exhaustion. Although sleeping for 12 hours, a person with sleep apnea still feels sleepy.

If sleep apnea occurs, the brain quickly realizes that the body lacks oxygen and wakes you up.(Photo: BuzzFeed).

Patients with sleep apnea do not remember anything about waking because the body goes back to sleep at the time of breathing, making it impossible for the brain to detect it. They only know about the disease if the sleeper informs, complains of unpleasant snoring or sniffing. In case of sleeping alone, the patient becomes easily panicked by not understanding why he is tired.

If left untreated, sleep apnea leads to a number of long-term health consequences such as high blood pressure, stroke, and weight gain. For people who have had cardiovascular problems, sleep apnea is especially dangerous, which can lead to fatal heart attacks during sleep.

Alcohol, sleeping pills and muscle relaxants make the sleep apnea worse. Other factors such as asthma and smoking also negatively affect the disease.

Sleep apnea is diagnosed by a combination of symptoms (tiredness, irritability when waking up, headache) with body monitoring, sleep while sleeping. The most common treatment is continuous positive pressure machine (CPAP) , a form of non-invasive breathing machine. Patients may also choose to have surgery or use specialized dental equipment.