Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder that occurs when a person's breathing is interrupted during sleep, lasting more than 10 seconds.
Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSA) is considered to be the presence of a specific clinical symptomatology, along with the detection of a pathological number of episodes, particularly obstructive apnea and hypopneas.
This syndrome is also known as "Pickwick Syndrome".
Sleep apnea is a common disorder in which you have one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths while you sleep.
Breathing pauses can last from a few seconds to minutes. They may occur 5 times or more an hour. Typically, normal breathing then starts again, sometimes with a loud snort or choking sound.
Sleep apnea usually is a chronic condition that disrupts your sleep. When your breathing pauses or becomes shallow, you’ll often move out of deep sleep and into light sleep.
As a result the quality of your sleep is poor, which makes you tired during the day. Sleep apnea is a leading cause of excessive daytime sleepiness and the most common of all sleep disorders.
Types of sleep disorders