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What is Sleep Apnea? Types, Risk Factors and Effects



All personal experience is told by Susan, a retired nurse.


Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder that can be very serious.  It occurs when a person is sleeping, and their breathing is interrupted.  People with sleep apnea will stop breathing repeatedly during sleep.  This can be very serious, some cases of 200 times of interrupted breathing have occurred.  This deprives both the brain and body of oxygen, which can create numerous health problems. As a nurse, it is imperative that you are aware of any patients suffering from sleep apnea.

Types of Sleep Apnea


  • Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA): The more common of the two forms of apnea, it is caused by a blockage of the airway, usually when the soft tissue in the back of the throat collapses during sleep.

  • Central sleep apnea: Unlike OSA, the airway is not blocked, but the brain fails to signal the muscles to breathe, due to instability in the respiratory control center. 

Risk Factors for Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea mainly affects adults; however, it can affect children.  Risk factors for sleep apnea include-

  • Being male 
  • Being overweight 
  • Being over age 40 
  • Having a large neck size (17 inches or greater in men and 16 inches or greater in women) 
  • Having large tonsils, a large tongue, or a small jaw bone 
  • Having a family history of sleep apnea 
  • Gastroesophageal reflux, or GERD 
  • Nasal obstruction due to a deviated septum, allergies, or sinus problems


Effects of Sleep Apnea

If sleep apnea is not treated it can result in serious health conditions, including-

  • High blood pressure 
  • Stroke 
  • Heart failure, irregular heartbeats, and heart attacks 
  • Diabetes 
  • Depression 
  • Worsening of ADHD 
  • Headaches

Sleep apnea can cause poor job or school performance, and lack of performance in sports or other daily activities.  Sleep apnea leads to motor vehicle crashes at an unknown rate, as they are simply recorded driver fell asleep at the wheel. 


Sleep apnea often receives a preliminary diagnosis by a physician based on information provided by the patient and family.  A typical patient with sleep apnea falls asleep at random times, day and night.  This can happen behind a wheel, or virtually anywhere.  As the patient's sleep is interrupted multiple times at night, they are actually suffering from a case of exhaustion.  A sleep apnea patient may be in bed for 8 hours, however, their interrupted sleep can prevent more than a few minutes sleep at a time. 

A Sleep Apnea Patient

When nursing, I worked at a large medical center.  I had a patient admitted that was in very poor condition.  At 42 years of age, he had multiple broken bones, including legs, one arm, a pelvis, a jaw, and 5 ribs.  He also endured brain trauma in the automobile crash, he was involved in.  His chances of survival were less than 20% when admitted, however, as the days progressed his chances improved.  His wife and 5 children visited daily, always being involved in his care and treatment.  As physical, therapy began, it was determined that this patient would never walk without a cane, one of his legs had been crushed beyond the point it could be repaired.  His career as a firefighter was over, however, he was improving daily and would go on to recover with the exception of the one leg. The patient and his family celebrated his discharge from the hospital 4 months after he was admitted.  The irony of this entire situation is, the person that ran his pickup truck head on into this patient's car, was in fact his uncle.  The uncle was 62 years of age, and suffered from sleep apnea.  The devastating part is, although the uncle was diagnosed as having sleep apnea, and prescribed the use of a c-pap, he opted not to use the machine, and continued to suffer from the effects, from sleep apnea, thus causing this accident.  There was a huge controversy surrounding this situation, many felt the uncle should be charged with a criminal violation, not unlike a DUI conviction.  Multiple lives were changed, and it was all due to the condition of sleep apnea, and the refusal to accept necessary medical equipment to correct it. 

People have died from this condition, as they suffer from exhaustion, and eventually get so tired and sleepy that they fail to wake up when their breathing is interrupted.  Anyone that finds they falling asleep at random times, snoring very loudly when sleeping, or wakes often with a jerking motion, should be tested for sleep apnea.  A sleep study is the protocol for testing. Here, a patient spends one night in a home-like environment in a medical center; however electrodes and a c-pap are placed on the patient in order to get a proper diagnosis.  It is important to note, sleep apnea can be controlled with proper care and treatment. 



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