According to research done by Medicinenet.com, Obstructive Sleep Apneas have four components. When an airway becomes obstructed, and the body attempts to take a breath, oxygen levels in the blood begin to drop. Finally, when the amount of oxygen reaching the brain decreases, it signals the body to wake up and take a breath. Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea often don’t report waking up during the night with each episode. Frequently, during the apnea, only the brain awakens, shifting from a deep sleep to a shallow one.
Because of depreciated oxygen in the brain, and less REM sleep, Obstructive Sleep Apnea has many daytime consequences. Patients with disrupted sleep cannot concentrate, think, or remember as well during the day. This has been shown to cause more accidents in the work place and while driving. Thus, people with Obstructive Sleep Apnea have a three-fold greater risk of a car accident than the general population. Daytime sleepiness, fatigue, headaches, irritability, poor memory and attention span are some of the other common symptoms associated with sleep apnea as a result of consistently less restful sleep.