When diagnosing the condition Sleep Apnea, it is easy to get it mixed up with snoring. Unfortunately the difference is it can lead to serious health conditions, if it goes untreated.


Sleep Apnea is caused by a variety of things, the same as snoring although one is harmless, and the other is potentially dangerous. It can easily be treated however with the use of a CPAP machine.


Our sleeping patterns constantly get abused, a good nights rest can affect our health, well-being and mind. It is predicted that over 17 million in the US have the condition, most of them unaware. Therefore more awareness needs to made of what symptoms to look out for.


Good And Bad Snoring When a person snores, the person snoring is normally completely unaware they are doing it. Light snorers are harmless and can usually sleep a full nights sleep. If your snoring is strangely loud you could suffer from sleep Apnea. As their airway gets blocked, they can stop breathing for seconds and even minutes at a time, the end of a breathing pause, is followed by a loud grunt the reason behind why Sleep Apnea sufferers often get confused with snorers.


The morning after the night before they can have a full nights sleep without waking one. A person with Sleep Apnea will suffer with pauses in breath causing them to wake up gasping for breath. A person with Sleep Apnea has a very uncomfortable nights sleep making them feel extremely drowsy the next day.


What Causes Sleep Apnea and Snoring There are many causes for why someone snores: from having a blocked nose to being overweight. Alcohol and smoking have also been linked to the condition. With Sleep Apnea however the causes are very similar. Sleep Apnea, however is more likely if: you are male, overweight, over 40 years old and you have a large neck. It has also been proven to run in the family.


The Warning Signs The best way to self diagnose yourself with the condition is by someone informing you about your pause in breathing or by completing a sleep study. However there is an array of symptoms you can have and notice yourself which could be a sign you have Sleep Apnea, these include: Poor Quality of sleep, waking yourself by snoring especially if you have just fell asleep, headaches, depression and fatigue. There are a number of ways in which you can sort out these problems which your gp can explain to you. They can also help you to find the best solution which suits you best.


The Treatment When you suffer from snoring you will probably be advised to use nasal strips, gum guards and told not to sleep on their backs. It is more crucial however, to treat Sleep Apnea. The apap machine was invented to provide a strong force air into the airway via a CPAP mask, to keep the airway open whilst asleep. Preventing the sleeper experiencing pauses in breath.


The population of snorers is very high, however they could actually have Sleep Apnea.