An answer to the question What is Sleep Apnea? as well as why you may have sleep apnea or be susceptible to getting it.

1. What is Sleep Apnea?
The simplest way to answer the question what is sleep apnea? is to describe
it as a condition in which a person momentarily stops breathing while
asleep. It is also sometimes referred to as shallow breathing while sleeping.
People experience these pauses in breathing for periods ranging between
seconds to a minute or more. Within one hour, someone suffering from
sleep apnea might experience this kind of disrupted breathing several
times - even as often as 30 times within that 60 minute period.
Whether the disruption lasts for seconds or minutes, eventually the person
will resume normal breathing. This resumed breathing may be
characterized by loud snoring, gasping for breath or, worse still, choking.
Although someone suffering from sleep apnea may not feel its effects while
they are sleeping, it disrupts their sleeping patterns and detracts from the
quality of sleep they get. This results in insufficient quality sleep and the
sufferer will likely become sleepy and weary during the day.
Since the sufferer themselves may not realize that they have this condition,
it is therefore difficult
to diagnose during a
normal check up.
Because the condition
only happens during
sleep, if the sleep apnea
sufferer isn't awakened
by his / her own
gasping or choking, it is
often diagnosed by their
sleep partners.

2. However, simply because someone notices that you don't sleep normally,
doesn't necessarily mean that you are suffering from sleep apnea.
Out of the millions of adults who have sleep apnea, many are not even
aware of it. Although this condition can affect people of any age, older
people are at a greater risk as well as those suffering from obesity. And,
although men stand a greater chance of suffering from the condition,
women, especially after menopause, are also prone to suffer from sleep
apnea.
Now that you have the answer to the question what is sleep apnea? let's
look at some of the reasons why you may be suffering from sleep apnea.
it runs in your family
have narrow passageways in your throat, mouth, or nose
you have abnormally large tonsils
you have a recessed chin
you have a large overbite or a small jaw
you're overweight
you have a large neck (larger than 16 inches for women and 17 for
men)
Related Articles
Besides the list above, other causes of sleep
apnea include:
Why We Sleep
What is Insomnia?
What is Snoring?
smoking What is Narcolepsy?
excessive and frequent alcohol intake Looping Dreams
People over the age of 40 tend to suffer from sleep apnea more than
younger individuals. Also, ethnicity seems to play a role in whether or not a

3. person is susceptible to sleep apnea. Hispanics, African-Americans as well
as Pacific Islanders have been shown to be more at risk than other ethnic
groups.
Not being able to get to sleep at night can be
a horrible experience - at night as well as
throughout the following day. But it doesn't
have to be that way - sometimes all it takes is
a few lifestyle adjustments. Learn what you
need to know to instantly fall asleep each
night in the sleep ebook,
Get to Sleep Now! 39 Ways to Guarantee Your ZZZs.