Sleep Apnea

Sleep Apnea, When Simple Snoring Turns into Sleep Apnea

Posted on 06. Dec, 2009 by admin in Sleep — Normal and Abnormal

In some people the loss of muscle tone in the tongue and throat is accompanied by a number of other factors, an instability in the breathing reflexes, a structural narrowing of the airway, or a lack of coordination among the breathing muscles. Various types of sleep-disordered breathing can occur, ranging from mild to severe.

In some people slight or occasional snoring may gradually develop into the heavy, more violent snoring that indicates sleep apnea. This process often begins in adolescence with heavy snoring and occasional short clusters of apnea events. Gradually, the picture may change to heavier snoring with longer sequences of nonbreathing. Later in adulthood the pattern may evolve into obstructive apnea events that occur throughout nearly the whole night, with great disturbances in the structure of sleep, fluctuations in oxygen content of the blood, and daytime drowsiness. In some older people who have never had trouble with sleep apnea, the loss of muscle tone that occurs with age is enough to trigger the development of sleep apnea.

The reason snoring may progress to sleep apnea in some people and not in others depends on the sum of all the factors we have described here: breathing reflexes, structure of the airway, muscle coordination, and inherited tendencies.

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Tags: Simple Snoring, Sleep Apnea