Symptom 2: Chronic Fatigue
The exhaustion that Central Sleep Apnea brings isn’t your everyday tiredness after a long day. It’s deeper, more profound, and affects every facet of life. This chronic fatigue feels like a heavy cloud, following you through every waking hour, dampening your mood, energy, and productivity.
Such fatigue stems from the consistent interruptions in sleep due to the brain’s lapses in signaling breathing. While sufferers may believe they’ve had a full night’s sleep, the reality is far from it. The micro-awakenings, often undetected, reduce the overall quality of sleep, rendering it less rejuvenating.
The human body follows sleep cycles, moving from light sleep to deep sleep and occasionally, REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. Every time CSA intervenes, it can reset this cycle, preventing the sleeper from entering the deeper, restorative stages of sleep. Consequently, the fatigue felt is not just physical, but mental too.
Imagine constantly running a marathon without any recovery time. That’s the exhaustion CSA brings into daily life. Simple tasks become mountains, conversations become chores, and the zeal for life slowly starts fading.(2)
