Affecting over 18 million American, sleep apnea is a rather serious sleep disorder which causes your breathing to be continuously interrupted throughout the nighttime of sleep.

Your breathing may be interrupted for as little as 10 seconds and up to a minute or longer. Goodness! With sleep apnea, it is no wonder that you wake up feeling as if you've been beat to within an inch of your life.

In order to get breathing again after a period of apnea, your brain kicks in to wake you up causing you to start breathing again. This cycle can repeat itself hundreds of time during any given period of sleep.

Stealing your sleep and your oxygen, when sleep apnea is left untreated it can worsen and can lead to other health conditions such as cardiovascular disease. It can become so severe that it literally threatens your life.

Now that should make you take of running to visit your healthcare provider!

Of course, the most clear cut sign of sleep apnea is a constant feeling of grogginess during the daytime. If you suffer with sleep apnea, you may find yourself falling asleep frequently during the daytime hours. It makes perfect sense because if you have sleep apnea you never fall into the deepest and most restorative sleep leaving you feeling exhausted.

Other symptoms found in sleep apnea include awakening during sleep gasping or choking, profuse sweating, unusually loud snoring and even startling yourself awake frequently as you try to catch your breath.

You may also find that you have a tough time concentrating or focusing on the day's activities. Sleep apnea can cause you to wake in the morning with a dry mouth, a sore throat, and even a pounding headache. Sleep apnea can also lead you to wild mood swings, depression and even weight gain.

With sleep apnea the muscles located in the back of the throat relax and obstruct the airway cutting off your breath. Because the muscles in the back of the throat also support the uvula, the tonsils and the tongue itself any of these can also become an obstructive source. This is the most common type of apnea and is called obstructed sleep apnea.

Less common, is central sleep apnea in which there is no actual mechanical obstruction but rather the brain is incapable of sending the necessary instructions to the appropriate muscles to work to breath.

A combination of these two types of apnea is known as Mixed Apnea.

There are many factors that are thought to cause your sleep apnea. Let's face it men, if you are male and over the age of 40, then you are at the highest risk. Sorry! Ladies, at least you get a little break on this high risk. Obesity, smoking, sedative use, alcohol use, enlarged tonsils, adenoids or even mechanical problems with the tongue, nasal septum, or vocal cords can all cause you to develop sleep apnea.

The causes of sleep apnea and the symptoms that you develop are varied and life-style altering. Deep depression and isolation can result. But you can make a decision to do something differently and you can learn to actively live with your diagnosis of narcolepsy.