Sleepiness, on the other hand, can be deceptive. First, it is important to be honest about how much you’re sleeping each night. Everyone gets tired, and sometimes you simply didn’t get enough sleep on a particular night and you’re feeling the effects. In that case, getting sleepy in the afternoon is absolutely normal. But if you’re consistently getting around 7 hours of consolidated sleep and you’re still exhausted throughout the day, something else may be going on. Unfortunately, even people with severe sleep apnea are often so busy, so engaged in their daytime activities, that they don’t report being sleepy at all. They don’t notice it, or they’re used to it and think it is normal to feel this way. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have a serious problem.
It can be. The problem is, we don’t know exactly what “benign snoring” is. Certainly if you only snore when you sleep after drinking alcohol, or after taking muscle relaxers, or when you’re exhausted from stress or an especially long day, that’s not as problematic. But if you’re snoring habitually, and loudly enough that someone in another room can hear you, that’s a problem.
It isn’t about a single symptom or one bad weekend. It’s about an ongoing pattern of sleep disturbance, and a cluster of indication. Certainly loud snoring or lapses in breathing are a strong clue, but you’re allowed to stop breathing every once in a while as part of normal sleep. You can have apnea events up to 5 times an hour and still be considered normal. But if it’s more frequent or more severe than that – if it’s consistently bothering you – it’s time to visit our offices for a full assessment.
There are many alternatives available, and a lot of good reasons to deal with disturbed breathing during sleep as soon as you notice it’s there.