Q: My husband is 35 years old and fat. He usually snores very hard and loudly in his sleep, and often does not breathe out for some time, and I am always afraid that he will die of suffocation. In addition, he always looks like he can’t wake up, says he is sleepy when he wakes up in the morning, falls asleep while watching TV or reading during the day, and his memory has been getting worse lately, he keeps forgetting things and often loses things. I am very worried about him, what is wrong with him and do I need to go to the hospital? What should I see? Is there any way to treat it? A: According to the information you provided, your husband is probably suffering from sleep apnea syndrome (SAS), which is a relatively common sleep apnea disorder, mainly seen in middle-aged men, and its main clinical manifestation is snoring during sleep with interrupted breathing, waking up during sleep and daytime sleepiness. As a result of repeated apnea during sleep, blood oxygen concentration decreases and blood viscosity increases, the patient’s brain, lungs, heart and other organs will be damaged, leading to various complications such as memory loss, hypertension, coronary heart disease, cardiovascular accidents, kidney damage, etc. The sudden death rate of sleep apnea patients is also much higher than that of normal people. Due to daytime sleepiness, patients often doze off while driving or working, which is a potential trigger for traffic accidents and production operative accidents. The main cause of sleep apnea syndrome is due to airway obstruction during sleep. There are many factors that cause airway obstruction, such as obesity, thick and long uvula, fat tongue, receding jaw, and deviated nasal septum. Since sleep apnea syndrome is more dangerous, if you find that you or your family members have sleep problems, please go to the hospital as soon as possible and present your condition to a specialist. If sleep apnea is suspected, the physician will provide a comprehensive evaluation of you and your family. If sleep apnea is suspected, your doctor will arrange for overnight monitoring of your sleep breathing. Overnight sleep monitoring is often an important tool to determine if you have sleep apnea. Sleep breathing monitoring allows for separate or simultaneous recording of oral and nasal airflow and oxygen saturation, heart and brain activity, muscle movements, body movements, blood pressure and snoring, and is a painless, risk-free test that usually requires an entire night. Depending on the circumstances, monitoring can be performed in a sleep monitoring laboratory or even in your own home. Once the sleep monitoring results have been analyzed, your doctor will discuss them with you or your family. The results of the sleep monitoring will help the doctor decide the nature and severity of your or your family member’s illness and the most appropriate treatment. Snoring and sleep apnea rarely heal on their own, but they can be treated. Many doctors used to believe that surgery was the most effective way to treat sleep apnea, but it is now believed that the long-term results of surgical treatment are not satisfactory, and that a non-invasive, comprehensive treatment is more effective for many sleep apnea patients. Whether one suffers from sleep apnea or not, there are some simple ways to reduce snoring symptoms or sleep apnea, such as: controlling weight and losing weight, avoiding alcohol before bedtime and taking certain medications such as sedatives, sleeping pills, anti-allergy medications, sleeping in the lateral position, quitting smoking and keeping the nose open. If the patient’s sleep apnea is severe, or if the above methods do not improve the sleep apnea significantly, the doctor will recommend the use of dental braces or continuous positive pressure ventilation. A dental brace worn in the mouth at night may prevent snoring and treat mild sleep apnea, or as an adjunct to continuous positive airway pressure treatment when the condition is reduced. Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) is by far the most effective treatment for sleep apnea. The method involves connecting a small air compressor to a nasal mask through a hose. While the patient sleeps, the mask is put on and the machine is turned on, which sends a gentle, steady stream of positive air pressure through the nasal cavity into the pharynx, where the air pressure forces the soft tissues of the pharynx not to collapse, thus keeping the airway open. The amount of this airflow pressure to keep the airway open is determined by the surgeon after sleep apnea monitoring. Depending on the indications for surgical treatment, the surgeon may recommend surgery. There are several surgical procedures (uvula-soft palate-pharyngoplasty (UPPP), laser-assisted uvula-palatoplasty (LAUP), nasal surgery to remove nasal polyps or correct a deviated septum, surgical removal of enlarged tonsils and adenoids, jaw surgery to enlarge the lower jaw and anterior tongue (airway, etc.) may be effective for sleep-related breathing problems. Prompt and effective treatment of sleep apnea can provide you and your family with quiet and adequate sleep, refreshed and energized during the day, and can eliminate or reduce the multi-organ functional impairment and complications caused by snoring or recurrent hypoxemia of sleep apnea, enhance health, improve quality of life, and prolong life.