Breathing stops at night - normal or dangerous?

Have you been feeling very tired during the day for a long time that you can’t explain? Then it could be that you have breathing pauses at night and wake up without noticing it. If this is sleep apnoea syndrome, it can have serious consequences.

Why do you have breathing pauses at night?

Our brain center normally sends us the impulse of inhaling and exhaling quite automatically, even at night. For some people, however, this is different. For them, the command is interrupted for a certain period of time, several times during the night.

The reason why breathing stops for a short time is usually because the airways of the affected person close for various reasons. The body then puts itself on alert internally and makes you wake up so that you can continue breathing again.

How do you notice breathing pauses at night?

Normally, you don’t even notice these short waking phases. How can you still notice possible breathing pauses during the night? If you notice these signs during the day, you should be alert:

Severe fatigue
Fatigue
Lack of concentration
Rapid irritability
Frequent headaches
Microsleep phases

In many cases, sleep apnoea is also accompanied by moderate to heavy snoring – but this does not necessarily have to be the case.

How many breathing stops are normal at night?

If breathing pauses do not occur regularly at night and last less than five seconds, this can be normal.

Doctors speak of sleep apnea when you have more than five pauses in breathing per hour and your breathing stops for at least ten seconds. In severe cases of apnea, breathing pauses can even last up to several minutes at night.

What are the causes of breathing pauses during sleep?

Unfortunately, research into the causes of sleep apnea is still in its infancy. What is certain, however, is that there are certain conditions and behaviors that can increase your risk of apnea:

The anatomy of your body

Do you have an enlarged tongue or a misaligned lower jaw? Then your airways can close more quickly at night. It is also noticeable that a particularly large number of people who are overweight suffer from sleep apnea. This seems to be related to the increased neck circumference.

Your sleeping position

Back sleepers not only snore more often but also have more frequent breathing pauses at night. Because in this position it happens quickly that your tongue slips into the throat and your breathing, therefore, comes to a standstill.

Your lifestyle

Do you smoke regularly? That’s not a good idea. Because by doing so, you also increase your risk of breathing pauses at night – possibly even drastically. The same applies to regular alcohol consumption. Furthermore, certain medications can also trigger sleep apnea. Hard to believe, but true: this even includes certain ingredients in some sleeping pills.

The biggest risk factors for respiratory failure at a glance

Anatomy (e.g. malposition of the jaw, deviated septum)
enlarged tonsils
obesity
Less physical activities
Smoking
Drinking alcohol
Medication
Sleeping on the back

How dangerous is it when breathing stops at night?

Treatment of sleep apnea is necessary because as a permanent condition, this disease can become dangerous. If your body is otherwise healthy, it can control the pauses in breathing, but it must constantly raise your blood pressure. This is very unhealthy for your heart in the long run.

The most common consequences of sleep apnea are these:

Mental instability due to depression
Heart attack
Stroke
Headache or migraine attacks
Accidents due to lack of concentration (e.g. in traffic, at home, at work)

As you can see, some of the points presented can even shorten your life in the worst case. It is therefore all the more important to determine the cause of your nocturnal breathing pauses as soon as possible.

What can be done about breathing pauses at night?

First of all, it is important that you have the frequency of your breathing episodes professionally measured. One way to do this is to have yourself admitted to a sleep lab. You will spend a few nights there and your sleep behavior will be analyzed in detail.

You don’t really like the idea of being hooked up to equipment in a medical sleep lab? Then we have some very good news for you: There is still an alternative.

Sleepiz – Your sleep lab at home

We also found that a wired laboratory was no longer up to date. That’s why we first invented the new method of wireless measurement. But our ambition and heart and soul took our little start-up much further – eventually Sleepiz was born.

Sleepiz is a small, medical measuring device that ensures that you don’t even have to leave your own bedroom to measure the most important values such as pulse or breathing rate.

We are proud that the Sleepiz measuring device is now not only used by many doctors. For some time now, our idea has even been supported by the Swiss innovation funding organization Innosuisse and by other European funding programs. We would like to express our special thanks to these at this point.

How Sleepiz works

What makes Sleepiz even more special is its ease of use and flexibility:

The device is quickly set up and ready for use at the touch of a button.
If another person is sleeping in the bed with you, it doesn’t matter, because as long as Sleepiz is closer to you during the night, it only measures your readings.
Your evaluations are automatically transmitted to the cloud in our Swiss data center. Only selected persons have access here.

Isn’t the medical device incredibly expensive?

No. In order to make the use of Sleepiz accessible to everyone, we have introduced the concept of renting instead of buying. You get the meter by mail and keep it only for three days for the measurement. Then you send it back to us. Don’t worry: If you forget it one night, we won’t charge you extra for an extra day.

The treatment options for sleep apnea are very good

If your measured values show a possible apnea, it is important that you discuss further treatment with your doctor. Depending on the cause of your breathing problems, an orthodontic bite splint may soon be able to alleviate your problems. In mild cases, quitting smoking may help. Those with severe apnea are often advised to use a CPAP mask, which is one of the most effective treatments.

Measure breathing pauses at home

Would you like to try Sleepiz? Then order your measuring device to your home today. If you have any questions about the ordering process or about Sleepiz itself, please feel free to contact us at any time. We will get back to you as soon as possible.Would you like to try Sleepiz? Then order your measuring device to your home today – it’s easy online. If you have any questions about the ordering process or about Sleepiz itself, please feel free to contact us at any time. We will get back to you as soon as possible.

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