OSA is considered a potentially serious disorder that can lead to adverse health effects.
People with mild OSA have sleep apnea that isnt as interrupted as moderate to severe OSA.
It also discusses how it’s different from more severe types, and ways it is managed and treated.
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People living with untreated sleep apnea stop breathing repeatedly in their sleep.
When this happens, the brain gets a signal to partially awaken because the body needs to breathe.
Once the breath is taken and the brain returns back to sleep mode, the process starts up again.
OSA is classified as mild, moderate, or severe based on the number of apneic events per hour.
What Are the Symptoms of Mild Sleep Apnea?
A person is given a diagnosis of mild sleep apnea based on an overnight sleep study called apolysomnography.
What Are the Causes of Mild Sleep Apnea?
The causes of mild OSA are the same as they are for moderate and severe OSA.
The more sleep interruptions you have the more severe the sleep apnea is.
Interestingly, according to Harvard Medical School, most people with OSA fall in the mild category.
Generally, a diagnosis of OSA starts with a complete medical history.
They will also examine your head and neck to look for physical signs of sleep apnea.
A polysomnogram is usually done if your practitioner decides your sleep issues warrant further testing.
Additional testing might be done depending on the results of the sleep study.
How Is Mild Sleep Apnea Treated?
But even mild OSA can still affect your life.
There isnt a lot of agreement or information on whethermild sleep apnea should be treatedor how.
Two articles going back to 2007both published in theJournal of Clinical Sleep Medicinedebate treating versus not treating mild OSA.
However, newer research does recommend treating mild sleep apnea with CPAP therapy.
If you have mild sleep apnea, you may need a CPAP machine.
Talk to your healthcare provider about how CPAP therapy might help you to get a better nights sleep.
Your practitioner can give you a prescription and let you know how CPAP therapy works.
They can request a sleep study and create a treatment plan that fits your lifestyle.
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