Can Sleep Apnea Kill You? The Risks You Need to Know

Sleep apnea is a condition where your airway repeatedly collapses during sleep, causing you to stop breathing — sometimes hundreds of times per night. Most people have no idea it is happening.

There are two main types: Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), caused by the airway physically collapsing, and Central Sleep Apnea (CSA), where the brain fails to send proper signals to the breathing muscles. OSA accounts for roughly 90% of cases.

Untreated sleep apnea puts enormous strain on your heart. Every time you stop breathing, your oxygen levels drop, your blood pressure spikes, and your heart works overtime to compensate. Over months and years, this damage accumulates.

• Heart disease: People with untreated OSA are 2–3x more likely to develop coronary artery disease.
• Stroke: Sleep apnea doubles your risk of stroke.
• Hypertension: Up to 50% of people with hypertension have sleep apnea.
• Arrhythmia: Atrial fibrillation is significantly more common in people with untreated sleep apnea.
• Sudden cardiac death: Studies show higher risk of dying from cardiac events during sleep hours for OSA patients.

Sleep apnea causes severe daytime sleepiness. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine estimates that drowsy driving caused by sleep apnea contributes to over 800,000 motor vehicle collisions annually in the United States.

If you fall asleep at the wheel or have a fatigue-related workplace accident, sleep apnea may be the underlying cause.

• Type 2 diabetes: OSA is associated with insulin resistance and worsened blood glucose control.
• Cognitive decline: Chronic oxygen deprivation during sleep accelerates memory loss and increases dementia risk.
• Depression: People with untreated sleep apnea are significantly more likely to suffer from clinical depression.
• Metabolic syndrome: The cluster of risk factors that lead to heart disease and diabetes is far more common in OSA patients.

Anyone can have sleep apnea — including people who are not overweight and people who do not snore loudly. However, risk increases with: BMI over 30, neck circumference over 17 inches (men) or 16 inches (women), age over 50, high blood pressure, and being male.

The STOP-BANG questionnaire is the most validated screening tool. A score of 3 or higher puts you in the moderate-to-high risk category.

The first step is diagnosis. You do not need a sleep lab referral or a night away from home. A home sleep apnea test — like the WatchPAT One available through Somni — measures your oxygen levels, heart rate, and breathing patterns while you sleep in your own bed.

If your results show sleep apnea, a board-certified physician reviews your data and issues a prescription if treatment is needed. CPAP therapy, the gold standard treatment, reduces cardiovascular risk significantly within the first few months of use.

Do not wait. The risks are real, but so is the solution.

Do not let undiagnosed sleep apnea silently damage your heart, your brain, and your quality of life. Somni makes it simple: order your home sleep test tonight, sleep in your own bed, and get physician-reviewed results in 48 hours.