One of the most dangerous consequences of sleep apnea is daytime sleepiness, usually experienced as “head-bobbing”.

“I think it’s tragic that some of us have been ‘head bobbing’ in our daily lives, in some cases when we’re behind the wheel of a car” says Butch. He goes on to describe what head bobbing feels like when driving.

“You fall asleep for a brief moment, head bob and then open the window while you are driving to get some air to wake you up.”

Not everyone who head bobs has sleep apnea, but people who do have sleep apnea are more prone to head bobbing as they are not sleeping well.

The tragic part of this sleep apnea symptom is it puts others in danger. A study by a sleep disorders clinic in Australia found that people with obstructive sleep apnea are up to fifteen times more likely to be involved in a traffic accident than people without the condition. This fact hit home for Butch when he discovered that the moderator of his sleep apnea support group had accidentally killed a young girl when he head bobbed while driving.

“I have come to realize that sleep apnea has deadly ramifications and can affect other people around you, not just yourself,” comments Butch.

If you think you might have sleep apnea, you should first see your primary care physician and arrange for a sleep test.

If you are diagnosed with sleep apnea there are a number of steps you can take to manage the condition.

• For people who are overweight, one of the best ways to treat sleep apnea is through weight loss. Studies show that when an overweight person loses 10 percent of their body weight, their sleep apnea episodes are reduced by up to 50 percent.
  
  
• Some people only suffer from sleep apnea while they are lying on their back. As a form of treatment, you can train yourself to not sleep on your back by attaching a tennis ball or other flexible object to the back of your pajama top.
  
  
• Medications are not generally a good answer for people suffering from sleep apnea. Sleeping pills actually make the condition worse and put the patient at risk because they diminish the brain’s ability to respond quickly when the patient stops breathing.
  
  
• A device called a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) uses a specially designed mask to prevent sleep apnea. The mask uses air pressure to stop the tissues in the back of the throat from collapsing.
  
  
• Dental appliances that reposition the lower jaw and tongue can also be helpful for people with mild or moderate sleep apnea.

There are also surgical procedures for dealing with sleep apnea which you can discuss with a primary care physician. However, even in these cases self-management in the form of weight control is still important for treating the condition.