What happens when you stop breathing during sleep?              

                          If you have sleep apnea, you stop breathing during sleep, and the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood is upset. This imbalance stimulates the brain to restart the breathing process. The brain signals you to wake up so that the muscles of the tongue and throat can increase the size for the airway. Then, carbon dioxide can escape, and oxygen can enter the airway.  These waking episodes are necessary to restart breathing (and save your life), but because of them, you become sleep-deprived.

Sleep Deprivation, both the person with sleep apnea and the bed partner suffer from sleep deprivation. A bed partner may lose an hour or more of sleep each night form sleeping next to a person with sleep apnea. Along with the apnea episodes, the person afflicted with sleep apnea may have additional trouble sleeping caused by side effects of the  condition, including a frequent need to get up and urinate during the night, and excessive sweating.  Some trickle-down effects of sleep deprivation are a compromised immune system, poor mental and emotional health, irritability, and slower reaction time, among other problems.

 In fact, a report in 2000 compiled by the U.S National Commission on Sleep Disorders shows that almost one out of ten people suffer from some sort of sleep and energy deprivation disorder.  Just from those statistics, that means, in America, as of July 2005, thats about 29,573,43 people (29 million!) have some sort of serious sleeping problem.  Thats almost twice the population of most small countries.

 A major and highly focused upon reaction of sleep deprivation is depression. Approximately one in five people who suffer from sleep apnea also suffer from depression. Existing depression may also be worsened by sleep apnea. While it is not clear whether the apnea causes the depression or vice-versa, studies show that by treating sleep apnea symptoms, depression may be alleviated in some people. Keeping a journal of your sleep patterns and how you feel after not having adequate amount of sleep, and taking it to your doctor will help you conquer your sleep disorder and your depression.