Knowledge Center

Millions don’t know they have the airway disorder, experts say.

Millions of Americans plod through each day exhausted. Not because they’re working too hard, over-exercising or not taking enough vitamins.

The real reason, experts say, is because they unknowingly have a sleep disorder.

As many as 18 million Americans have obstructive sleep apnea, according to the National Sleep Foundation. But researchers estimate that as many as 90 percent of them don’t know they have it.

Sleep apnea causes people’s airways to become blocked while ...

Treatment for kids’ sleep apnea shown to improve attention span.

Obstructive sleep apnea in children produces chemical changes in brain areas associated with learning, memory, and executive function, a researcher said here.

Luckily, treatment for the sleep apnea appears to reverse many of those brain changes, Ann Halbower, MD, of Children’s Hospital Sleep Center in Denver, said here at the annual meeting of the American Thoracic Society.

A small study found that the normalization of the brain chemistry resulting from treatment was associated ...

Cancer compensates, spreads in search for oxygen, researcher suggests.

Sleep apnea has already been linked to a host of adverse health problems, such as high blood pressure and heart disease. Now, new research suggests that in people who already have cancer, the sleep disorder may raise their risk of dying from cancer.

People with the most severe sleep apnea — those who have 30 or more episodes of low or no oxygen in an hour of sleep — had almost five times ...

Nighttime breathing disorder might alter heart’s function, but CPAP mask therapy seems to help.

A nightly breathing treatment may not only help people with obstructive sleep apnea sleep better, it might also lower their risk of heart failure, a new study finds.

Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when breathing is interrupted throughout nighttime sleep. With the new study, a team of British researchers believe their findings could have a significant impact on the estimated 18 million Americans with some form of the condition.

“Sleep ...