Please verify your email address to receive email notifications.

Enter your email address

We have sent you a verification email. Please check your inbox and spam folder.

Unable to send verification, please refresh and try again later.

  • Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners

    What causes sleep apnea?

    Related Topics
    Sleep Apnoea Sleep Medicine
    • 1 answer
    • Dr Smariti Kapila
    answer this question

  • Find a professional to answer your question

  • 7

    Thanks

    Dr Smariti Kapila

    Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) Surgeon

    She has primarily been trained in Sydney, but also across Australia, including Darwin and several outreach communities, Adelaide, Gosford, and Sydney, including St Vincent's, Royal … View Profile

    Sleep apneoa quite literally means absence of breathing during sleep.

    It can be:

    • central - ie the brain is not telling the body to breath
    • obstructive - ie periodic blocking of the airway, especially when the patient falls into the deep sleep phase.

    Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) usually results from narrowing of the airway anywhere along it's course, for example:
    • nose - adenoids, congestion, septal deviation
    • mouth - tonsils, soft palate, tongue, throat muscles

    Relaxation during the deep sleep phase causes collapse, and blockage causes the blood oxygen to drop.  When the body notices this, it makes efforts to increase the airflow, ultimately waking the patient up.

    The repeated low oxygen levels and the lack of deep restful sleep result waking tired, daytime tiredness, poor concentration even in children, and in adults, are linked with blood pressure and cardiac issues.

    Reply to this post
     · 
    Report
answer this question

You must be a Health Professional to answer this question. Log in or Sign up .

You may also like these related questions

Related Fact Sheets
Related Questions

Empowering Australians to make better health choices