Why does sleep apnea patient’s airflow into the lungs drop during sleep? This is the cause due to two main reasons. These causes of airflow block define the two major types of sleep apnea.
Sleep Apnea Types
Sleep apnea are classified into two types they are:
- obstructive sleep apnea
- central sleep apnea
Obstructive sleep apnea
The most common type of sleep apnea is obstructive sleep apnea. It means that the airway has collapsed or blocked during sleep. The blockage may cause shallow breathing or breathing pauses.
During breathe any air that squeezes past the blockage can cause loud snoring. Obstructive sleep apnea happens more often affects people who are overweight, but it can affect anyone.
Central sleep apnea
Central sleep apnea is a less common type of sleep apnea. It happens when the area of the brain that controls breathing does not send the correct signals to the breathing muscles. Therefore, it makes no effort to breathe for certain brief periods.
Central sleep apnea often occurs with obstructive sleep apnea, but sometimes, it can occur alone. Snoring does not typically happen with central sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea a chronic sleep disorder
Sleep apnea is a common disorder with one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths while sleeping. Breathing pauses can last from a few seconds to minutes. They often occur five to 25 times or more an hour. Then normal breathing starts again, sometimes with a loud snort or choking sound.
Sleep apnea usually is a chronic (ongoing) condition that disrupts sleep on three or more nights each week. It causes to move out of deep sleep and into light sleep immediately after breathing pauses or shallow-breath.
This results in poor sleep quality thus makes daytime tiredness. Sleep apnea is one of the leading causes of excessive daytime sleepiness.