Is It Snoring or Sleep Apnea?

It’s the sound that some can’t escape. “Snoring can be disruptive to family members, or it can be disruptive to the bed partner as well.” And it could get worse as we age, “One reason is we can have some weight gain, if we have weight gain we are obstructing our upper airway.” Plus, we aren’t as strong as we once were. “Are your muscles what they were 20 years ago? And they’re like of course not, and I use this to highlight that your upper airway is made up of muscles, so you can have some collapsibility over time,” said Dr. Jose Colon, the Medical Director of Lee Health’s Sleep Disorder Center.

Dr. Colon said snoring could be a sign of sleep apnea. “Sleep apnea is where you have difficulty breathing in your sleep. People can have periods and times where their oxygen comes down and their upper airways have collapsed and the air is not moving through.”

Dry mouth, morning headaches, insomnia, and gasping for air while you sleep are some other common symptoms. More than 200,000 cases are diagnosed in the US every year. “Something that’s important to understand is that males from 30 to 60 years of age have a 25% incidents of sleep apnea, and then females after 50 years of age after menopause can have the same incidence of sleep apnea,” said Dr. Colon. Sleep Apnea is treatable. You can get screened for it at Lee Health’s Sleep Disorder Center.

Lee Health in Fort Myers, FL is the largest network of health care facilities in Southwest Florida and is highly respected for its expertise, innovation and quality of care. For more than 100 years, we’ve been providing our community with personalized preventative health services and primary care to highly specialized care services and robotic assisted surgeries. Lee Health - Caring People. Inspiring Care.

[StonedBarbiee]

I have been told I snore louder than a men’s prison… 😂 and I just made me appointment to test for sleep apnea. I also quit breathing in my sleep so yep pretty sure I got it 😢

[shannon-zwyg]

Your test not given you those answers.!