Find out more about why this common sleep disorder happens and how it s treated. Sleep apnea also spelled sleep apnoea is a sleep disorder where a person has pauses in breathing or periods of shallow breathing during sleep. Snoring Rule Out Obstructive Sleep Apnea Osa Sleep Apnea It is increasingly recognized as an independent risk factor for cardiac neurologic and perioperative morbidities. Definition of obstructive sleep apnea . Each pause can last for a few seconds to a few minutes and they happen many times a night. Obstructive sleep apnea osa is a sleep related breathing disorder that involves a decrease or complete halt in airflow despite an ongoing effort to breathe. In the most common form this follows loud snoring. Sleep apnea definition is apnea that recurs during sleep and is caused especially by obstruction of the airway or a disturbance in the brain s respiratory center. Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when the muscles in the back of your throat relax too much ...