Sleep Apnea Assessment Questionnaire
1.) Do you snore loudly? Loud snorers have about an 80% chance of having sleep apnea.
2.) Are you tired during the day? Do you feel tired after a full night’s sleep? The number 1 symptom of sleep apnea is excessive daytime sleepiness.
3.) Do you nap or feel like you could fall asleep easily during the day if given a chance? The ability to nap during the day is a sign that you either didn’t have enough sleep or the sleep you had was poor quality.
4.) Are you more than 20 pounds overweight? Extra weight in your neck makes your throat smaller and therefore easier to collapse during sleep, causing sleep apnea.
5.) Is it hard for you to lose weight? If you have sleep apnea, it is difficult to lose weight even with diet and exercise because the hormone that makes you feel full is produced during deep sleep. If you have sleep apnea, you probably don’t get enough deep sleep, and therefore less of that hormone is made, causing you to eat more than you should.
6.) Do you have high blood pressure, adult onset diabetes, acid reflux or heartburn, or have you had a heart attack, stroke, or heart failure? Sleep apnea has been identified as a possible cause of all of these things.
7.) Do you clench or grind your teeth at night or wake up with a headache? People with sleep apnea often clench or grind their teeth during sleep. This irritates the clenching muscles and cause a headache in the morning. This type of headache would hurt on the sides of your head (near your temples). Morning headaches in the mid face, upper face, and around your eyes are not usually caused by teeth clenching and sleep apnea. Rather, those headaches are usually related to crowding in the nose.
8.) Do you awaken frequently at night? Do you get up to go to the bathroom more than twice per night? People with sleep apnea spend more time in lighter stages of sleep and some, but not all, people with sleep apnea wake up frequently during the night. In addition, people with sleep apnea produce more of a protein that causes frequent urination at night.
9.) Do you have depression, poor attention span or attention deficit disorder? These are all associated with sleep apnea and are sometimes directly caused by sleep apnea.
10.) Do you get sleepy when you drive? Dangerous. If this happens to you, get checked immediately.
REVIEW YOUR ANSWERS
If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, we suggest you discuss sleep apnea with Dr. O’Halloran at the O’Halloran Clinic or your physician.
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Comprehensive Sleeping & Snoring Care Program
The O’Halloran Clinic’s Comprehensive Sleep & Snoring Care Program is illustrated in the following diagram:
