Sleep Apnea Versus Insomnia: What’s Keeping You Up At Night?

Did you know that there are more than 100 different types of sleep disorders? At Advanced Sleep Medicine, we understand how hard life can be when you don’t get enough shut-eye. Today, we’re going to compare two of the more common types of sleep disorders: insomnia and sleep apnea

Sleep Apnea

  • Definition- When your sleep is interrupted because you stop breathing.
  • Cause- The causes can vary, depending on if you have Central or Obstructive Sleep Apnea. In Obstructive Sleep Apnea, a part of your soft palate collapses, blocking your airway. In Central Sleep Apnea, your brain doesn’t send the proper signals to the muscles that control your breathing.
  • Symptoms: Loud snoring, choking or gasping in your sleep, daytime drowsiness, depression and issues with weight gain.
  • Treatment: The most common way to treat sleep apnea is through Continuous Positive Airway Pressure, or CPAP. Other options can also include surgery or weight loss.

Insomnia

  • Definition—When you cannot fall asleep, or you wake up a couple of hours after falling asleep and cannot go back to sleep.
  • Cause—A variety of things can cause insomnia, including anxiety disorders, depression, stress, thyroid dysfunction, hormonal changes and other physical causes. Sometimes, lifestyle choices can affect insomnia, including alcohol and tobacco use.
  • Symptoms—Laying awake in bed and unable to fall asleep, no matter how tired you are.
  • Treatment: Treatments can vary according to cause. Sometimes, a drug can be prescribed for mental or physical causes. Other times, lifestyle changes will need to be made in order to address it.

If you’re not getting adequate rest at night, don’t hesitate to reach out to the experts at Advanced Sleep Medicine! We can conduct a sleep test on you to discover what it is that’s robbing you of a good night’s rest. Our many locations also include equipment and supplies to address some of the issues you may be having. 

Comments

  1. GUS SOTO Reply

    I HAVE SLEEP APNEA AND CANNOT SLEEP AT NITE AFTER 4 HOURS.

  2. James Boone Reply

    Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder that can obstructs your breath during sleep. The main symptoms of this are obesity, stress, anxiety, snoring. You have provided very useful information about apnea. Thanks for sharing!

  3. Tanya Lance Reply

    I have sleep apnea am on a machine for 6years use my machine every night still don’t fall asleep till a couple hours after using machine then still constantly wake up

  4. Dennis Bruster Reply

    Vetnam Veteran 67-69 Stationed DaNang Air Base Stored Millions Of Agent Orange Got Cancer PTSD had trouble sleeping at night would fall sleep Day Time went to Dr had Sleep Study Found Out Sleep Apnea heart stopped 83 times per hr VA denied Rating they say no prove Related to A PTSD then Just Found Out That Insomnia does Thats how I Found Out My Sleep Apnea all went to Heart and Sleep Dr Kettlekamp Unepiont In Cedar Rapids Ia See Dr ABDELHAMID VA. Dr Roffs VA Shrink So can you hope or not

  5. تمريض منزلي Reply

    i like this article, it has a lot of info i need to know, thanks for sharing

  6. flagle Reply

    I have sleep apnea and have been using a machine for six years. However, I do not fall asleep until a few hours after using the machine, and I still wake up frequently.

  7. Quordle Online Reply

    Thanks for the info. I have been suffering from insomnia for 2 years now hope this helps.

  8. Fnaf Reply

    A well-rested mind is a more alert mind, so make sure you get plenty of shut-eye each night.

  9. papa's freezeria Reply

    this helps me so much.

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