Spotting Your Own Apnea

A diagnosis of sleep apnea frequently comes after two things are reported. The first is loud, violent snoring. The second is the presence of “apneic events,” moments where a person’s unconscious breathing stops entirely and doesn’t resume for many seconds. Both of these are usually reported by the partner of the sufferer, and are often the first reason someone seeks professional medical help.

But what can you do if you suspect that you have sleep apnea, but don’t have a partner to confirm these night-time symptoms?

First, consider your daytime symptoms. People with sleep apnea frequently report many of the following:

•       Frequent headaches, especially in the morning
•       Daytime sleepiness
•       Difficulty concentrating
•       Irritability or mood swings
•       Dry and sore mouth in the morning
•       Frequent night-time awakenings

These symptoms alone warrant coming in for a sleep evaluation, but because they appear non-specific you may want more information before committing to seeking medical help. Fortunately, there is a simple solution to seeing if you’re experiencing apneic events at night: you can record yourself while you sleep.

With the help of a simple microphone and free audio software like Audacity, you can record the sounds of your breathing at night and listen to it in the morning. That way, if you’re snoring loudly, you’ll know it right away. Then, if that snoring is present, you can search the audio wave for sharp drops in volume. If you play these sections, and find that you go from snoring or regular breathing to being completely silent, you’ll have evidence of an apneic event. Remember, you don’t have to listen to the entire track to find these events. If you’re snoring loudly, the events will show as noticeable drops in volume on the audio spectrogram.

[[[picture demonstrating an audio wave with a sharp drop]]

If you do find yourself experiencing apneic events, it’s important that you start managing the symptoms right away and schedule yourself a sleep evaluation. Even if the symptoms you’re experiencing seem subjectively tolerable, untreated sleep apnea can have a large number of dangerous side-effects including weight gain, increased risk of cardiac disease, and increased risk of neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia.

Even if you aren’t able to seek medical treatment right away, you can try to reduce your symptoms by finding sleeping positions that reduce the frequency of your apneic events (such as by sleeping upright) and by working to keep your airways free of congestion. Fortunately, the symptoms of sleep apnea are ultimately treatable, and once you find the medical treatment you need you should find yourself feeling much, much healthier!

For information about the long-term effects of sleep apnea, check out this post. If you want more information about what treatments will be available to you, check here.