Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsTypesSymptomsCausesDiagnosisTreatment
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Types
Symptoms
Causes
Diagnosis
Treatment
Mild obstructive sleep apnea is the least-advanced type ofobstructive sleep apnea(OSA).OSA is a sleep disorder that causes apneic events where breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. OSA is considered a potentially serious disorder that can lead to adverse health effects.
People with mild OSA have sleep apnea that isn’t as interrupted as moderate to severe OSA. But because the condition is mild, it might be hard to know if you have it or for your healthcare provider to diagnose you with the condition.
This article covers mild obstructive sleep apnea, its signs, and symptoms, and the risks associated with it. It also discusses how it’s different from more severe types, and ways it is managed and treated.
Hope Connolly / Getty Images
Types of Sleep Apnea
Sleep apneaincludes three serious sleep disorders where your breathing is interrupted while you sleep. People living with untreated sleep apnea stop breathing repeatedly in their sleep. When breathing is stopped, your brain and the rest of your body don’t get enough oxygen, which will affect your health over time.
There arethree different types of sleep apnea: obstructive sleep apnea, central sleep apnea, and complex sleep apnea:
Obstructive sleep apnea causes apneic events that reduce blood flow to the brain. When this happens, the brain gets a signal to partially awaken because the body needs to breathe.
After you wake up, you might experience loud gasping, choking, or snorting sounds because you are taking breaths to fight the obstruction. Once the breath is taken and the brain returns back to sleep mode, the process starts up again. This process might occur a few times a night or up to 100 times, depending on the severity of the apnea.
OSA is classified as mild, moderate, or severe based on the number of apneic events per hour.
Mild OSA may not seem like it’s that bad, but it can still affect your quality of life.
Even though mild sleep apnea causes fewer interruptions than moderate or severe OSA, five to 14 interruptions in breathing per hour is still a lot for your sleep to be interrupted and for you to stop breathing.
What Are the Symptoms of Mild Sleep Apnea?
A person is given a diagnosis of mild sleep apnea based on an overnight sleep study called apolysomnography. This test records blood oxygen levels, brain waves, breathing patterns, eye movement, heart rate, leg movement, sleep stages, snoring, and more.
If you haven’t taken a sleep study and your symptoms are mild, it might be harder for you to know you are having sleep issues. However, it is important to know what symptoms mild sleep apnea might cause because some of them can have a serious effect on your health over time.
You can bring this to the attention of your healthcare provider who can assess you to determine the source of fatigue, sleep problems, and other symptoms.
With mild OSA, you may notice the following symptoms:
A 2017 OSA guideline from the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) describescardiovascular diseaseas a risk factor in people with high blood pressure.It also considers OSA as a secondary cause of high blood pressure, including resistant hypertension.
Resistant hypertension is high blood pressure that doesn’t respond to treatment and requires multiple medications to keep blood pressure at acceptable levels.Resistant hypertension is usuallysecondary hypertensionor has no identifiable cause.
Additional sleep apnea symptoms that someone with mild sleep apnea might experience include:
Sleep apnea, regardless of its severity, can lead to sleep deprivation, and lack of sleep has far-reaching health consequences. Because sleep apnea can affect oxygen balance in the body, untreated sleep apnea can put you at risk for many very serious conditions.
What Are the Causes of Mild Sleep Apnea?
Thecauses of mild OSAare the same as they are for moderate and severe OSA. These might include:
Diagnostic Challenges of Mild OSA
Obstructive sleep apnea is diagnosed based on the number of respiratory sleep disruptions per hour of sleep during an overnight sleep study. The more sleep interruptions you have the more severe the sleep apnea is. Interestingly, according to Harvard Medical School, most people with OSA fall in the mild category.
Unfortunately, most studies seem to focus on moderate and severe instances of sleep apnea, which doesn’t really give healthcare providers a lot of information when it comes to diagnosing mild sleep apnea.And if severity doesn’t correlate with symptoms, a diagnosis of mild OSA might not be considered.
However, diagnosing OSA is vital because undiagnosed or untreated sleep apnea can lead to serious health complications, including heart attack, diabetes, cancer, and cognitive and behavioral disorders.
Generally, a diagnosis of OSA starts with a complete medical history. Your healthcare provider will ask you about daytime sleepiness, if you snore, your sleep habits, and the quality of your sleep. They will also examine your head and neck to look for physical signs of sleep apnea.
A polysomnogram is usually done if your practitioner decides your sleep issues warrant further testing. Additional testing might be done depending on the results of the sleep study.
How Is Mild Sleep Apnea Treated?
When people hear the word “mild” as it relates to OSA, they think they don’t have a lot to worry about. But even mild OSA can still affect your life.
Untreated mild apnea could cause apneic events, snoring, and gasping while you sleep, which can lead to long-term adverse health effects and problems with daytime sleepiness, both of which are life-altering.
There isn’t a lot of agreement or information on whethermild sleep apnea should be treatedor how. Two articles going back to 2007—both published in theJournal of Clinical Sleep Medicine—debate treating versus not treating mild OSA.
The first piece argued that mild OSA does not require continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy and that there is no benefit to using a CPAP machine for treating mild sleep apnea.The second piece posited that mild OSA should be treated with CPAP therapy because even mild symptoms can adversely affect a person’s health.
However, newer research does recommend treating mild sleep apnea with CPAP therapy. A study in 2020 published inThe Lancetfound that just three months of CPAP could improve the quality of life for people with mild OSA.
If you have mild sleep apnea, you may need a CPAP machine. Your healthcare provider might also suggest other treatments including:
If you have mild sleep apnea, CPAP is always an option. Talk to your healthcare provider about how CPAP therapy might help you to get a better night’s sleep. Your practitioner can give you a prescription and let you know how CPAP therapy works.
Summary
You should talk to your healthcare provider if you experience daytime sleepiness or if you consistently struggle to sleep well at night. They can request a sleep study and create a treatment plan that fits your lifestyle.
While mild sleep apnea might not be as disruptive as moderate or severe OSA, it can still affect your health and your quality of life. Sleep problems are always worth getting checked out because treatment can reduce the number of apneic events you experience and help you to get better, more refreshed sleep.
18 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Johns Hopkins Medicine.Obstructive sleep apnea.Khan MT, Franco RA.Complex sleep apnea syndrome.Sleep Disord. 2014;2014:798487. doi:10.1155/2014/798487Tietjens JR, Claman D, Kezirian EJ, et al.Obstructive sleep apnea in cardiovascular disease: a review of the literature and proposed multidisciplinary clinical management strategy.J Am Heart Assoc. 2019;8(1):e010440. doi:10.1161/JAHA.118.010440Hudgel DW.Sleep apnea severity classification - revisited. Sleep. 2016;39(5):1165-1166. doi:10.5665/sleep.5776MedlinePlus.Polysomnography.Sleep Foundation.How sleep apnea affects blood pressure.Whelton PK, Carey RM, Aronow WS, et al.2017 ACC/AHA/AAPA/ABC/ACPM/AGS/APhA/ASH/ASPC/NMA/PCNA Guideline for the prevention, detection, evaluation, and management of high blood pressure in adults: executive summary: A report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines.Hypertension. 2018 Jun;71(6):1269-1324. doi:10.1161/HYP.0000000000000066Yaxley JP, Thambar SV.Resistant hypertension: an approach to management in primary care.J Family Med Prim Care. 2015;4(2):193-199. doi:10.4103/2249-4863.154630National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.Sleep apnea.Jordan AS, McSharry DG, Malhotra A.Adult obstructive sleep apnoea.Lancet. 2014;383(9918):736-747. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60734-5Sharma MV.Obstructive sleep apnea and endocrine disorders.Med J DY Patil Univ. 2017;10(5):467-469. doi:10.4103/MJDRDYPU.MJDRDYPU_17_17Pogach M.Treating mild sleep apnea: Should you consider a CPAP device?Harvard Medical School.National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.What is sleep apnea?Littner MR.Mild obstructive sleep apnea syndrome should not be treated.J Clin Sleep Med. 2007;3(3):263-264.Brown LK.Mild obstructive sleep apnea syndrome should be treated.Pro. J Clin Sleep Med.2007;3(3):259-262.Wimms AJ, Kelly JL, Turnbull CD, et al.Continuous positive airway pressure versus standard care for the treatment of people with mild obstructive sleep apnoea (MERGE): a multicentre, randomised controlled trial.Lancet Respir Med. 2020 Apr;8(4):349-358. doi:10.1016/S2213-2600(19)30402-3St-Onge MP, Tasali E.Weight loss is integral to obstructive sleep apnea management. Ten-year follow-up in Sleep AHEAD.Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2021;203(2):161-162. doi:10.1164/rccm.202007-2906EDNational Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Sleep apnea: Treatment.
18 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Johns Hopkins Medicine.Obstructive sleep apnea.Khan MT, Franco RA.Complex sleep apnea syndrome.Sleep Disord. 2014;2014:798487. doi:10.1155/2014/798487Tietjens JR, Claman D, Kezirian EJ, et al.Obstructive sleep apnea in cardiovascular disease: a review of the literature and proposed multidisciplinary clinical management strategy.J Am Heart Assoc. 2019;8(1):e010440. doi:10.1161/JAHA.118.010440Hudgel DW.Sleep apnea severity classification - revisited. Sleep. 2016;39(5):1165-1166. doi:10.5665/sleep.5776MedlinePlus.Polysomnography.Sleep Foundation.How sleep apnea affects blood pressure.Whelton PK, Carey RM, Aronow WS, et al.2017 ACC/AHA/AAPA/ABC/ACPM/AGS/APhA/ASH/ASPC/NMA/PCNA Guideline for the prevention, detection, evaluation, and management of high blood pressure in adults: executive summary: A report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines.Hypertension. 2018 Jun;71(6):1269-1324. doi:10.1161/HYP.0000000000000066Yaxley JP, Thambar SV.Resistant hypertension: an approach to management in primary care.J Family Med Prim Care. 2015;4(2):193-199. doi:10.4103/2249-4863.154630National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.Sleep apnea.Jordan AS, McSharry DG, Malhotra A.Adult obstructive sleep apnoea.Lancet. 2014;383(9918):736-747. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60734-5Sharma MV.Obstructive sleep apnea and endocrine disorders.Med J DY Patil Univ. 2017;10(5):467-469. doi:10.4103/MJDRDYPU.MJDRDYPU_17_17Pogach M.Treating mild sleep apnea: Should you consider a CPAP device?Harvard Medical School.National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.What is sleep apnea?Littner MR.Mild obstructive sleep apnea syndrome should not be treated.J Clin Sleep Med. 2007;3(3):263-264.Brown LK.Mild obstructive sleep apnea syndrome should be treated.Pro. J Clin Sleep Med.2007;3(3):259-262.Wimms AJ, Kelly JL, Turnbull CD, et al.Continuous positive airway pressure versus standard care for the treatment of people with mild obstructive sleep apnoea (MERGE): a multicentre, randomised controlled trial.Lancet Respir Med. 2020 Apr;8(4):349-358. doi:10.1016/S2213-2600(19)30402-3St-Onge MP, Tasali E.Weight loss is integral to obstructive sleep apnea management. Ten-year follow-up in Sleep AHEAD.Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2021;203(2):161-162. doi:10.1164/rccm.202007-2906EDNational Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Sleep apnea: Treatment.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Johns Hopkins Medicine.Obstructive sleep apnea.Khan MT, Franco RA.Complex sleep apnea syndrome.Sleep Disord. 2014;2014:798487. doi:10.1155/2014/798487Tietjens JR, Claman D, Kezirian EJ, et al.Obstructive sleep apnea in cardiovascular disease: a review of the literature and proposed multidisciplinary clinical management strategy.J Am Heart Assoc. 2019;8(1):e010440. doi:10.1161/JAHA.118.010440Hudgel DW.Sleep apnea severity classification - revisited. Sleep. 2016;39(5):1165-1166. doi:10.5665/sleep.5776MedlinePlus.Polysomnography.Sleep Foundation.How sleep apnea affects blood pressure.Whelton PK, Carey RM, Aronow WS, et al.2017 ACC/AHA/AAPA/ABC/ACPM/AGS/APhA/ASH/ASPC/NMA/PCNA Guideline for the prevention, detection, evaluation, and management of high blood pressure in adults: executive summary: A report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines.Hypertension. 2018 Jun;71(6):1269-1324. doi:10.1161/HYP.0000000000000066Yaxley JP, Thambar SV.Resistant hypertension: an approach to management in primary care.J Family Med Prim Care. 2015;4(2):193-199. doi:10.4103/2249-4863.154630National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.Sleep apnea.Jordan AS, McSharry DG, Malhotra A.Adult obstructive sleep apnoea.Lancet. 2014;383(9918):736-747. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60734-5Sharma MV.Obstructive sleep apnea and endocrine disorders.Med J DY Patil Univ. 2017;10(5):467-469. doi:10.4103/MJDRDYPU.MJDRDYPU_17_17Pogach M.Treating mild sleep apnea: Should you consider a CPAP device?Harvard Medical School.National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.What is sleep apnea?Littner MR.Mild obstructive sleep apnea syndrome should not be treated.J Clin Sleep Med. 2007;3(3):263-264.Brown LK.Mild obstructive sleep apnea syndrome should be treated.Pro. J Clin Sleep Med.2007;3(3):259-262.Wimms AJ, Kelly JL, Turnbull CD, et al.Continuous positive airway pressure versus standard care for the treatment of people with mild obstructive sleep apnoea (MERGE): a multicentre, randomised controlled trial.Lancet Respir Med. 2020 Apr;8(4):349-358. doi:10.1016/S2213-2600(19)30402-3St-Onge MP, Tasali E.Weight loss is integral to obstructive sleep apnea management. Ten-year follow-up in Sleep AHEAD.Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2021;203(2):161-162. doi:10.1164/rccm.202007-2906EDNational Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Sleep apnea: Treatment.
Johns Hopkins Medicine.Obstructive sleep apnea.
Khan MT, Franco RA.Complex sleep apnea syndrome.Sleep Disord. 2014;2014:798487. doi:10.1155/2014/798487
Tietjens JR, Claman D, Kezirian EJ, et al.Obstructive sleep apnea in cardiovascular disease: a review of the literature and proposed multidisciplinary clinical management strategy.J Am Heart Assoc. 2019;8(1):e010440. doi:10.1161/JAHA.118.010440
Hudgel DW.Sleep apnea severity classification - revisited. Sleep. 2016;39(5):1165-1166. doi:10.5665/sleep.5776
MedlinePlus.Polysomnography.
Sleep Foundation.How sleep apnea affects blood pressure.
Whelton PK, Carey RM, Aronow WS, et al.2017 ACC/AHA/AAPA/ABC/ACPM/AGS/APhA/ASH/ASPC/NMA/PCNA Guideline for the prevention, detection, evaluation, and management of high blood pressure in adults: executive summary: A report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines.Hypertension. 2018 Jun;71(6):1269-1324. doi:10.1161/HYP.0000000000000066
Yaxley JP, Thambar SV.Resistant hypertension: an approach to management in primary care.J Family Med Prim Care. 2015;4(2):193-199. doi:10.4103/2249-4863.154630
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.Sleep apnea.
Jordan AS, McSharry DG, Malhotra A.Adult obstructive sleep apnoea.Lancet. 2014;383(9918):736-747. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60734-5
Sharma MV.Obstructive sleep apnea and endocrine disorders.Med J DY Patil Univ. 2017;10(5):467-469. doi:10.4103/MJDRDYPU.MJDRDYPU_17_17
Pogach M.Treating mild sleep apnea: Should you consider a CPAP device?Harvard Medical School.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.What is sleep apnea?
Littner MR.Mild obstructive sleep apnea syndrome should not be treated.J Clin Sleep Med. 2007;3(3):263-264.
Brown LK.Mild obstructive sleep apnea syndrome should be treated.Pro. J Clin Sleep Med.2007;3(3):259-262.
Wimms AJ, Kelly JL, Turnbull CD, et al.Continuous positive airway pressure versus standard care for the treatment of people with mild obstructive sleep apnoea (MERGE): a multicentre, randomised controlled trial.Lancet Respir Med. 2020 Apr;8(4):349-358. doi:10.1016/S2213-2600(19)30402-3
St-Onge MP, Tasali E.Weight loss is integral to obstructive sleep apnea management. Ten-year follow-up in Sleep AHEAD.Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2021;203(2):161-162. doi:10.1164/rccm.202007-2906ED
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Sleep apnea: Treatment.
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