Sleep Apnea Symptoms Are Not Always Easy To Spot
Sleep apnea symptoms are most often observed in men who are over forty and also overweight but they can appear at any age in both women and men and are being seen increasingly in children.
The most obvious symptom of sleep apnea (which is merely one of a number of common sleep disorders) is snoring which is hard to spot by yourself and generally needs to be pointed out to you by a sleeping partner. There are however many reasons for snoring and the mere fact that you snore does not by itself mean that you are suffering from sleep apnea. It is a fact however that the majority of sleep apnea sufferers do snore.
The next most obvious symptom of sleep apnea is undue tiredness during the day. Sleep apnea sufferers stop breathing frequently during sleep and the body’s natural reaction is to awaken you enough for you to start breathing again, but not enough for you to be conscious of the fact that you are being awakened. This of course means that your sleep is continually interrupted and very light so that you are not getting the deep sleep which your body needs. As a consequence you become more and more tired during the day.
Left untreated the effects of sleep apnea begin to emerge and you will start to experience additional symptoms that could include headaches (especially first thing in the morning), tetchiness and depression. You might also notice that you are starting to put on weight.
A further not quite so obvious symptom of sleep apnea is an increase in blood pressure which can give rise to a number of cardiovascular difficulties. should you be one of the increasing number of people who are now monitoring their blood pressure regularly at home then you will pick this up quite easily but, otherwise, it will not be found until you attend the doctor to have a routine physical examination.
One further symptom is that of increasing problems with memory retention and learning difficulties. Once again this is not something which is easy for you to see yourself but others around you may well notice that you are not as fast on the uptake as you used to be.
Finally, a number of sleep apnea sufferers will notice a decline in sexual function that can lead to impotency.
Each of these symptoms in isolation could be indicative of almost any problem you care to mention. If you start to see these symptoms appearing together however then there is a better than even chance that you have sleep apnea and you need to consult your doctor and think about having a sleep apnea test.