Do you feel exhausted every morning? Headaches when you wake up? Do you find yourself suddenly awake and gasping for air in the middle of the night? You may suffer from a very common condition known as sleep apnea, where your airway becomes blocked as you sleep. As a result, you may wake up hundreds of times in a single night (often without remembering), which disrupts your sleep cycle and can cause all sorts of health problems.

If you cozy up with a partner at night, it will be easy to tell if you have sleep apnea. Your loving partner will probably spend the whole night hitting you with a pillow, begging you to stop snoring so loudly. But what about if you haven’t found that special man or woman yet?

Some telltale signs: Abrupt awakenings in the night

• Exhaustion upon waking up
• Headaches in the morning
• Acid Reflux
• Difficulty staying awake during the work day

Aside from carefully assessing your waking condition, you can always use your phone as a recorder at night -- see if you can catch yourself snoring loudly. If you suspect you have sleep apnea, don’t ignore it. Talk to your doctor, who may send you to a special sleep lab for testing. If it turns out you do have sleep apnea, your doctor may suggest the use of a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure machine (CPAP), or your dentist can manufacture a special sleep appliance to be worn at night. There are new appliances and approaches being formulated every day…so help yourself to sleep better and live longer. Find out about sleep apnea today.