What can severe daytime sleepiness mean?

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One of the dangerous causes of severe daytime sleepiness observed in a person is sleep apnea, which means the cessation of normal breathing while she sleeps at night.

Severe daytime sleepiness may not only mean that a person has had a sleepless night, although lack of sleep is the most typical explanation. According to somnologist Sofia Cherkasova, a similar condition is often provoked by sleep apnea, a syndrome characterized by pauses in breathing during sleep and loud snoring.

Cherkasova explained that such stops during night sleep can occur in many people, but in as a rule, their number should not exceed five per night. If there is apnea, they become much more frequent, which adversely affects the condition of the brain, because at such moments its oxygen supply stops. For this reason, this syndrome is considered one of the factors in the development of dementia.

During breathing stops, the doctor explained, “a micro-awakening of the brain occurs, which tries to activate the respiratory muscles – as a result, the structure of sleep is disturbed and “there is daytime sleepiness”.

In addition, severe daytime sleepiness can indicate problems with the thyroid gland.