I often stay up late reading while my husband is asleep in the bed next to me.  As a result, periodically I’ve heard him stop breathing temporarily in his sleep.  Usually it happens when he’s snoring, and usually there’s a great big snore right when he starts breathing again.

It’s a little scary, and every time it happens (which thankfully isn’t often) I hold my own breath until he starts breathing again.  Sometimes I nudge him to make him move and trigger him to start breathing again.  If it keeps up, I’m thinking we may need to go to the doctor and have him checked out for sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is a condition where the person stops breathing temporarily and at intervals throughout the night.  There are a lot of causes, such as obesity, enlarged tonsils, and abnormal airways.  Even common colds, sinus infections, and other temporary conditions can cause sleep apnea.

If a person has chronic sleep apnea, it needs to be treated, as the condition prevents them from getting restful sleep at night.  It’s not fun to be falling asleep at unexpected or inappropriate times!

Treatment often means using BiPAP or CPAP equipment.  These things use a sleep apnea mask to keep the person’s airway open with a continuous flow of air.  CPAP machines always maintain the same pressure, or the same speed in the flow of air, while BiPAP machines alternate between an inhale pressure and a lesser exhale pressure.  As you can imagine, BiPAP machines are a little easier to get used to!

Hopefully it won’t come to that, though.  I’m hoping my husband’s problem isn’t anything serious, but I’ll be listening for it more closely from now on.

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