Causes of OSA

What causes Obstructive Sleep Apnea? The truth is, nobody knows.

When we sleep, the brain ‘turns down’ most of the motor functions, except the heart and lungs; this essentially keeps us from acting out our dreams. During sleep, the muscles of the upper airway also lose tone. When this happens, the negative pressure of an inhalation may be, in some, enough to collapse the airway. Fatty deposits, facial structure, or other factors may result in someone having a narrower than normal airway. It is believed that this narrowing, combined with an inherit predisposition to the disease, leads to Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

Each obstruction typically ends with an ‘EEG Arousal’. The brain can then recruit enough muscles to open the airway. Some research suggests there might be a neurological component to obstructive sleep apnea. Serotonin and Dopamine levels have been linked to Obstructive Sleep Apnea, both inside and outside the brain. Age is a factor, because of the general loss of muscle tone, but nobody knows for sure what the underlying cause, or causes are.