The silence, I'm told, is way worse than the snoring. In the middle of the night, you go quiet for a while. Your chest heaves. Nada. Your body tries again. Still nothing. Then, if you're lucky, your brain kicks in and sends out the alarm: without oxygen, it will starve. So your reflexes get your body to rouse; there's a snuffling, wheezing and then a big intake of breath. And then back to normal breathing--or more snoring--until the cycle starts again. And all the while, you're fast asleep, blissfully unaware that anything is going on.
This is called sleep apnea. It happens when...
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