Sleep Apnea?

39, 16-17% body fat, fairly active/athletic through the years, continue to exercise to this date.  I'm 5'7, 167lbs (fairly strong for my size, which accounts for a lot of my overall mass).

I'm also an agoraphobic with general panic disorder.  

Lately I cannot sleep long, deep stretches hardly ever.  Maybe twice a week, but even then I wake up a few times throughout the night.  I toss and turn a lot while half awake.  

I have noticed however while half awake/half asleep that as many as what I believe to be about 10 seconds will go by before I take a breath.  Is this a problem?  I should note that my resting HR is between 50-60 and so when I'm in bed it's even as low as 40 something.  So perhaps long pauses between breaths is normal???  I should also point out that I feel perfectly fine/normal when I notice these long delays between breaths...I do NOT feel like I'm not getting enough O2.  Is that statement alone enough to conclude that my breathing rate is normal and that it's NOT apnea (most likely if I had apnea it would be CSA from what I've read)?  I just assumed my poor sleep was due to my phobias and mild depression.  But now I wonder about sleep apnea???


This discussion is related to what is it?.

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

Repeated awakening or restless in sleep could be due a sleep disorder. It could be due to obstructive sleep apnea, wherein during sleep there is an obstruction to airflow due to laxity of the throat muscles during sleep and this could cause restlessness. Hence for therapy CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) is used to keep it patent. This disorder can cause inadequate sleep leading to fatigue and daytime sleepiness. So, I would advise you to consult your primary care physician for further evaluation. He may then ask for a sleep study called polysomnography for further evaluation.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.