If your spouse notices that you stop breathing for more than 10 seconds more than 10 times an hour during sleep, you may have sleep apnea. Many overweight people suffer from sleep apnea and have difficulty staying awake during the day because stopping breathing interferes with deep sleep, causing them to wake up tired each morning. A report in Archives of Internal Medicine shows that obese people are at high risk for suffering from daytime sleepiness, even when they do not have sleep apnea.

If your doctor suspects sleep apnea, he will probably refer you to a sleep specialist. Most of the time, you will be diagnosed as having sleep apnea. Since there are no effective drugs, you will usually be given a special CPAP machine. Some people adapt easily to the CPAP machine and benefit from it, but others find it uncomfortable and cannot sleep with it on.

There are two types of sleep apnea: in one, the airway is obstructed, in the other, a person just stops breathing with no obstruction and is usually overweight. Therefore, if you have sleep apnea and are overweight, you should get on a diet and start an exercise program to lose weight, the most effective treatment for sleep apnea. People who have obstructive sleep apnea should be treated for their asthma or nasal obstruction. If you snore loudly, check with you doctor to see if you need cortisone nasal sprays or antibiotics. If you feel sleepy during the day, the most effective treatment is a nap. Some people with asthma do not have respiratory obstruction; they just stop breathing and are normal. They may have been incorrectly diagnosed as having sleep apnea because normal people stop breathing for up to 10 seconds up to 10 times a night.

However, if you suffer daytime sleepiness, inability to stay asleep at night or stop breathing for more than 10 seconds more than 10 times a night, you may be cured by taking naps for between 30 and 60 minutes each afternoon or whenever you have an overwhelming feeling of tiredness.

For journal references on this article see the More Health section of my web site (below.)

Gabe Mirkin, M.D.

Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in Sports Medicine and three other specialties.

Dr. Mirkin's daily features on fitness have been heard on CBS Radio News stations since the 1970's. He has written 16 books including The Sportsmedicine Book, the best-selling book on the subject that has been translated into many languages. His latest book is The Healthy Heart Miracle, published by HarperCollins.

Dr. Mirkin is a graduate of Harvard University and Baylor University College of Medicine. A Boston native, Dr. Mirkin did his residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He has served as a Teaching Fellow at Johns Hopkins Medical School, Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, and Associate Clinical Professor in Pediatrics at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. He has run more than forty marathons and is now a serious tandem bicycle rider with his wife, nutritionist Diana Mirkin.