This is the VOA Special English Health Report, from voaspecialenglish.com | http Loud snoring can be a problem, and not just for other people trying to sleep with the noise. It can also be a sign of sleep apnea. People with this condition repeatedly stop breathing while they sleep -- and may not even know it. Dr. David Gross at the National Rehabilitation Hospital of Washington says: "Sleep apnea means that the airway, the upper airway, cuts off at night ... The muscles get all relaxed and cut off and this can happen over and over again, sixty to one hundred times an hour."Most people who snore do not have sleep apnea. But doctors say most people with sleep apnea do snore. Sleep apnea not only reduces sleep quality and makes people feel tired during the day. More and more studies show that it can also lead to strokes and heart attacks. Dr. Michael Twery at the National Institutes of Health explains why: "Whenever we run out of enough air to breathe, it sends alerting signals to our minds. It raises the level of stress hormones. It tells our heart to work harder."When a person stops breathing, oxygen levels in the blood decrease. This happens again and again with sleep apnea. Dr. Twery compares the effect of sleep apnea to racing a car engine for long periods of time: "Our heart becomes overworked and we become more vulnerable to heart attack." And also strokes. Dr. Twery led a study of about nine thousand people who had sleep apnea but no history of heart disease. The ...
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