During sleep, all the muscles of your body relax. Your muscles in the upper throat can relax during sleep as well. The muscles then block the flow of air in and out of your lungs especially if you have a narrow throat. The brain reacts by shortly interfering with your sleep to begin breathing. That is when you resume breathing with a choking sound only for it to become pattern. This pattern where your breathing frequently starts and pauses during sleep is called apnea.

When you suffer from apnea, you may not have a good sleep. At your age, you want to have restful nights to keep you energetic, relaxed, focused and strong every day. Persons over the age of 60 may suffer from obstructive sleep apnea. This type is common and occurs when the soft tissue in your throat relaxes and is characterized by loud snoring and blocked airway.

However, not everyone who snores suffers from sleep apnea. Nevertheless, persons who suffer from this condition are hardly aware of the apnea episodes even after they awaken.

Symptoms

The most vital symptoms occur while sleeping. This can make it difficult to identify the signs on your own. To get around the difficulty you can ask your bed partner to record what he or she observes in your sleep.

1. Loud and chronic snoring
2. Nightmare awakening
3. Long pauses in breathing
4. Insomnia
5. Gasping, snorting and choking when sleeping
6. Hard to treat morning headaches
7. Daytime sleepiness (fall asleep while driving, working, watching TV or even reading).
8. Be forgetful
9. Act irritable or grumpy

Treatment

Sleep apnea is treatable and can be approached using various methods.

a) CPAP

Continuous Positive Airflow Pressure (CPAP) is treatment for severe and moderate apnea. The device pressurizes air and provides a consistent flow of air into your lungs. The facial mask is connected to the CPAP machine works to keep the airways open while sleeping.

b) Refraining from sedatives, alcohol and sleeping pills particularly before going to bed. The above can help relax your throat tissue more which can lead to sleep apnea.

c) Stop smoking

Persons who smoke are at a higher risk of the condition than those who do not smoke. Smoking increases inflammation and reservation of fluids in upper airway and throat.

d) Sleeping on the side

Soft tissues and your tongue can drop and restrict the airway when sleeping on the back. Sleeping on the side rather than the back helps to reduce snoring for the tongue is not resting at the back where it can block the air ways.