It is when a person stops breathing for short periods of time while asleep.

The cessation of breathing usually lasts seconds and if it occurs five or more times per hour

(sometimes much more) a person is said to have sleep apnea.

This is manifested as a struggle to breathe and the person starts to come out of deep sleep.

When a person is not breathing the oxygen level in their blood is also decreasing, and if this happens

often the body responds by increasing the blood pressure, so many patients with sleep apnea also

have high blood pressure or hypertension.

Since sleep apnea disturbs the sleep cycle, patients may be sleepy during the day, lack concentration

and suffer from headaches.

Causes of sleep apnea vary, but mostly it is due to collapse of the soft tissues in the throat when a person

relaxes in deep sleep, but also because of other obstructions in the airflow passage.

Treatment options may include one or more of the following: weight loss, treatment of nasal obstruction,

throat surgery to remove excess collapsible tissue, and the use of appliances or machines that

help a patient breathe such as CPAP.