Originally Posted by
samlad
You know, I actually suffer from sleep apnea and I have to go to a sleep lab in December. I'm not overweight, but I've suffered from this for years. It was realised when my ex complained that I snored and sometimes stopped breathing for long periods of time.
I find myself very tired a lot of the time and can often fall asleep when I sit down and become relaxed... the tiredness is so overwhelming I can't control it. The quality of sleep I get is really bad; because I'm not breathing properly I don't fall into REM sleep and wake up groggy and exhausted. If I wake up in the night, I can't get back to sleep either, so it's a nightmare (not to pun, here!).
The problem is that when I lie on my back, my windpipe relaxes and collapses slighty, restricting the air-flow and causing the snoring. I have to sleep on my side in order to combat this, and I get a better night's sleep. However, I always wake up at least twice in the night and can't relax, so it's a vicious circle really!!!