Sleep apnea is a potentially life-threatening sleep disorder characterized by repeated pauses in breathing during sleep. The term is derived from the Greek word meaning “without breath”. Breathing pauses last at least ten seconds and happen as often as 30 times or more per hour. Ongoing disrupted breathing causes an imbalance between the carbon dioxide and oxygen levels in the bloodstream, as not enough carbon dioxide is exiting and not enough oxygen is entering the body.

Sensing this imbalance, the brain sends a message to the body, telling it to wake up to restart the breathing process. People with sleep apnea will partially awake as they struggle to breathe, and this is often accompanied by loud snoring or choking sensations. Because people with this condition don’t always completely awake during the episodes, they are often unaware they have a sleeping disorder and it can remain undiagnosed.