Overview

Breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep, which is known as sleep apnea. You may have sleep apnea if you snore loudly and still feel exhausted after a full night’s sleep.

These are the main forms of sleep apnea:

The more prevalent type of obstructive sleep apnea, which happens when throat muscles relax

Central sleep apnea, which develops when your brain fails to properly signal the breathing muscles,

When a person has both central and obstructive sleep apnea, it is known as complex sleep apnea syndrome, also called treatment-emergent sleep apnea.

Symptoms

It can be challenging to distinguish between obstructive and central sleep apneas because their signs and symptoms frequently overlap. Obstructive and central sleep apnea’s most typical warning signs and symptoms are as follows:

A loud snore

episodes where you stop breathing while sleeping, which another person would notice

breathing heavily while sleeping

dry mouth upon awakening

Daytime headache

Difficulty staying asleep (insomnia)

excessive slumber during the day (hypersomnia)

inability to concentrate while awake

Irritability