Sleep apnea is a common condition that is identified by blocked airways during sleep. It can interfere with your breathing several times at night and can also be fatal. If left untreated, the disorder can lead to other serious conditions such as diabetes and stroke. Therefore, it is important to know the early symptoms and sleep apnea to get the diagnosis and treatment on time. Here’s some ways to know the same.

Early symptoms of sleep apnea

• Noisy sleeper
  Early diagnosis of the symptoms of sleep apnea can prove to play an essential role in controlling the condition. Therefore, if you have been snoring or snorting heavily while sleeping, you should not be ignoring it since it could be a warning sign. Although snoring always does not mean sleep apnea, the two conditions are usually found to be co-existing.
• Restless sleep
  If you have been moving and turning a lot in the bed while sleeping, it can be a warning sing that you should not ignore. People with sleep apnea often find themselves jerking their limbs or kicking at night. These signs must be taken into consideration.
• Persistent fatigue or tiredness
  If you have been waking up tired even after getting a complete night’s sleep, it can be a sign of sleep apnea. This can make you doze off while reading a book or watching TV. It can also make you feel irritable throughout the day and can affect your productivity. Poor quality of sleep might even affect your immune system and can make you more susceptible to infections. Therefore, if you have been feeling tired all day long, you must consult a doctor.

Sleep apnea diagnosis
If a person has been showing the above-mentioned symptoms, the doctor can ask them to take a polysomnogram, i.e., a test for sleep apnea. The test can be conducted at home or at a sleep disorder center. During the process, the physical activities of a person are recorded electronically while they sleep. These recordings are then sent for analysis to a sleep specialist. The findings from the recordings will help the sleep specialist determine if you have sleep apnea or not.

In case where the condition is diagnosed, more sleep testing can be ordered to arrive at the best course of treatment.

There are several other tests that can be ordered for diagnosing sleep apnea. These can be:

• Electroencephalogram or EEG
  This test is done to record and measure the wave activity in the brain.
• Electromyogram or EMG
  This is a test done to record activity of the muscle such as movements of the leg, grinding of the teeth, face twitches, and the like. The test is also done to check for the existence of sleep at the REM stage.
• Electrocardiogram or ECG
  This test is used for recording rhythm and the rate of heart.