American Sleep Centers offer highly capable medical professionals to provide top sleep apnea services with compassion and care in mind. Various sleep apnea treatment options are available for treating this sleep disorder. Sleep apnea causes chronic sleep deprivation resulting from periodic breathing pauses that can last more than 10 seconds and occur as many as 50 times per hour. From the social consequences of snoring to the reduced work productivity caused by lack of sleep to the industrial and highway accidents caused by lack of concentration and drivers falling asleep at the wheel, the costs associated with sleep apnea are in the billions of dollars. If you believe or someone you know suffers from this sleep disorder, you need to know what sleep apnea treatment options are available.

Apnea means "without breath" and it is from Greek. In simple English, it means 'cessation of breath'. When you are not able to breathe properly while sleeping and have to wake up to gasp for breath, you might have sleep apnea. This situation may occur 20 to 60 times within each hour. To diagnose it, your breathing needs to be monitored while you are sleeping.

The cessation of breathing for more than 10 seconds and occurred more than several times while you are sleeping is the indication of sleep apnea. It contains apneic episodes from 10 to 90 seconds where you stop breathing.

Sleep Apnea Health Problems Can Be Serious

Sleep apnea or CDL sleep apnea is much more serious than many realize. Sleep apnea health problems can affect vital body functions, including heart attack, heart failure, high blood pressure, and a host of other problems. Don't ignore sleep apnea - it could cost you your life.

Efforts to discover what causes sleep apnea have been intense, and although the actual cause may not have been identified, researchers have discovered that sleep apnea health problems can be serious.

If your sleep apnea is treated with a sleep apnea device such as a CPAP machine, you reduce or even eliminate your risks. However, if you do not seek treatment when your breathing stops during an apnea attack, the levels of carbon dioxide in your blood increase while the levels of oxygen drop off. This effect causes a variety of chemical and physical events to occur that can increase your risk for heart problems.

Sleep apnea health problems increase the longer the apnea remains untreated. Sleep apnea will decrease the levels of gas nitric oxide in the blood, which is an important substance for heart health. The reduced levels raise the risk of heart problems.