A sleep study may be requested by your doctor in order to determine if you have a sleep disorder. Millions of men and women of all ages suffer from sleep disorders. A sleep disorder involves any difficulty related to sleeping, including going to sleep or staying asleep. 
 

Untreated sleep disorders can result in difficulty at school, decreased productivity at work, strained relationships, mood swings, or serious health issues. 
 

Some examples of sleep disorders include:

• Sleep apnea: brief periods of inability to breathe while sleeping.
• Insomnia: chronic inability to sleep or to remain asleep.
• Narcolepsy: a syndrome characterized by sudden, uncontrollable urges to sleep. The patient may fall asleep dozens of times in a day, with each attack lasting from a few minutes to several hours.

Sleep apnea is the most common sleep disorder. People with sleep apnea stop breathing repeatedly during their sleep, sometimes hundreds of times in one night, and often for a minute or longer. These pauses in breathing are commonly caused by obstruction of the airway.
 

You may suffer from sleep apnea if you experience:

• Loud snoring
• Waking up gasping for air
• Morning headaches
• Daytime fatigue
• Depression

Untreated sleep apnea significantly increases your risk for heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.
 

Continuous Positive Airway Pressure or CPAP is the most successful treatment option for sleep apnea. CPAP is a device that lightly blows air through the airway to keep it open and unobstructed during sleep. Other treatment options may include sleeping on your side, an oral appliance, or a hypoglossal nerve stimulator, depending on the severity of sleep apnea.