The sleep apnea symptoms are that the upper airway can become obstructed by excess airway tissue, enlarged tonsils for example and it usually includes the muscles of the upper airway relaxing when asleep. The most common type of sleep apnea is normally termed Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

Sleep apnea is considered to be a chronic condition and sufferers move out of deep sleep into light sleep when their breathing pauses. The pauses in breathe can last for a few seconds to minutes long and for sufferers, they can occur up to 30 times an hour. Breathing normally then restarts with a loud snort. The end result of Obstructive Sleep Apnea is poor quality sleep that leads to daytime tiredness.

Sleep apnea is more frequent in men. For example, 1 in 25 middle-aged men suffer from sleep apnea compared with 1 in 50 middle-aged women have sleep apnea. Also the incidence of sleep apnea increases as you get older.

There is more than one cause of Sleep Apnea. For Obstructive Sleep Apnea it is the result of airways blocking. When you are awake, the muscles in the throat keep your airway open so that air can easily enter into your lungs. When you are asleep, then the same muscles become relaxed. Now normally the relaxed muscles do not prevent the airway staying open during sleep, however, this is not the case if you suffer from Obstructive Sleep Apnea when the airways become blocked. There are a number of reasons why this may happen. These include:

• Your tongue and tonsils are excessively large when compared to the opening into your oesophagus
• You are carrying excess weight. The extra soft fat tissue can thicken the wall of the oesophagus, which causes the inside opening to reduce in size.
• The physical dimensions of your head and neck may lead to a smaller cross-sectional area of your windpipe
• As you get older then the quality of the brain signals to keep your throat stiff during sleep can decline and increases the chance that the airway will become blocked.