Important Sleep Facts

1. Healthy adults should only need about 7-9 hours of sleep a night to feel fully rested and not develop fatigue during the day.

2. Sleep apnea patients often have persistent problems with their weight due to being too tired to exercise and hormonal imbalance.

3. Chronic sleep deprivation can affect the brain just like alcoholism, drug addiction, and even Alzheimer’s.

4. Sleep apnea is frequently self-misdiagnosed as insomnia because it can cause a person to wake up multiple times during the night and/or sleep very lightly.

5. People who snore but do not have sleep apnea have a higher chance of developing it in the future than those who do not snore. Fortunately, this can be effectively prevented using oral appliance therapy.

6. Driving while fatigued is just as dangerous as driving while drunk! In a closed course test, tired drivers were 15x MORE likely to get into an accident than ones who were sober and adequately rested.

7. Most of the people with sleep apnea (80%) are either undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. Furthermore, the majority of those who are diagnosed with sleep apnea never seek out treatment.

8. People with untreated sleep apnea tend to have a much shorter life expectancy, only averaging the age of 55.

9. Sleep apnea is one of the biggest and most unrecognized causes of sexual and erectile dysfunction.

10. People who frequently wake up to urinate during the night might actually be waking up due to sleep apnea.

11. Many people who suffer from bruxism, or unconscious nighttime teeth grinding, may also be suffering from sleep apnea.

12. A larger than average tongue or neck can also be risk factors for sleep apnea.