This is likely due to two main factors: Obesity (one of the most common risk factors for OSA) has increased dramatically and there is more awareness about sleep apnea among doctors and the public at large, so more people are being screened and diagnosed, says James Rowley, MD, professor of medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, and a member of the board of directors of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM). Research indicates that cases of obstructive sleep apnea have risen significantly in the last two decades. Simply put, having obstructive sleep apnea means that not enough air can get into lungs at night, and your brain wakes you up to breathe, says Robson Capasso, MD, chief of sleep surgery and associate professor of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine in California. When your brain senses that you aren’t getting enough oxygen, it signals your body to wake up enough so that you can reopen your airway, and you may gasp for air during the night. (It’s worth noting not everyone who snores has sleep apnea.) When the airway is blocked partially the person may start to snore, which is why this symptom is common in OSA. The throat muscles support the soft tissues in the back of the throat - such as the soft palate, the uvula, the tonsils, and tongue - so when those muscles collapse too much, those tissues can fall back into the throat, partially or completely blocking the normal flow of air in your airway. With OSA, the throat muscles in the back of your throat, which naturally become more relaxed during sleep, collapse too much to allow for normal breathing, according to the AASM. The most common type of sleep apnea is obstructive sleep apnea, sometimes referred to as OSA.
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