What is Breathing-Related Sleep Disorder?
There are two main forms of Breathing-Related Sleep Disorder. One is known as alveolar hypoventilation sleep syndrome – a disorder of shallow breathing that worsens at night. The other type of Breathing-Related Sleep Disorder is called sleep apnea. This is a complete stopping of air exchange during sleep and is potentially lethal. There are two main subtypes of sleep apnea: obstructive and central. In the obstructive type, which is the most common type of breathing-related sleep disorder, airflow through the upper respiratory passages is blocked. A person actually stops breathing for 10seconds or more – sometimes up to two minutes. A loud snore reinstates the breathing process. This can happen many times a night – typically around 30. In the central type of sleep apnea the person stops making the muscular effort to breathe. No matter what the cause of sleep apnea, the blood becomes depleted of oxygen until breathing starts again. Symptoms of Breathing-Related Sleep Disorder In order to
