Although insomnia and sleep apnea can each affect your ability to get a quality night’s sleep, there are a few key differences that make them easy to differentiate and diagnose.
Insomnia and sleep apnea are common sleep disorders among adults.
Insomnia is characterized by trouble falling or staying asleep. It can be caused by a wide variety of environmental factors, such as an uncomfortable bed or excessive noise, and other underlying health conditions, including anxiety and depression.
Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when your upper airway is blocked during sleep. Your breathing may become shallow or stop completely. Central sleep apnea happens when the body misses the cue to breathe while you sleep.
If left untreated, both conditions can increase your risk for other health complications.
Some symptoms of insomnia and sleep apnea may overlap, but the two conditions also have distinct differences.
Insomnia
With insomnia, you may lie awake or wake up frequently throughout the night. Insomnia can also make it difficult to fall back asleep once you’re awake.
Short-term (acute) insomnia lasts less than 3 months. Anything longer than 3 months is considered long-term (chronic).
Sleep apnea
Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder in which breathing pauses while you sleep. This can happen repeatedly. It results from the muscles in the back of your throat relaxing and blocking your upper airway, preventing air from reaching your lungs.
Sleep apnea can cause hypopneas (partial pauses) or apneas (total pauses) in breathing. These last at least 10 seconds. Typical pauses are 10 to 30 seconds long. However, they can continue for 1 minute or more. The result is a sudden drop in blood oxygen levels, which can be 40% or more in some cases.
When this happens, the brain sends signals to the body, waking you up and causing you to breathe normally again. This can happen hundreds of times in one night.
Overlapping signs and symptoms
Insomnia and sleep apnea have many of the same symptoms, including:
- morning headaches
- daytime drowsiness
- difficulty concentrating or focusing on tasks
- forgetfulness
- irritability and other mood changes
Although insomnia and sleep apnea are two different conditions, they can occur together. This can make a diagnosis difficult to reach.
Insomnia and sleep apnea can have different causes. However, a
Insomnia
Acute insomnia can result from the following:
- stress or anxiety
- working shifts late at night or early in the morning
- having an irregular sleep schedule or poor sleep hygiene
- drinking caffeine or alcohol late in the afternoon or before bedtime
- sleeping in a new place or on a new bed
- jet lag
Chronic insomnia can occur on its own or as a result of other health conditions, including:
Most people experience acute insomnia at least once throughout their lifetime. Chronic insomnia is more severe and could come with serious health complications.
Sleep apnea
The biggest risk factor for sleep apnea is obesity. Older people and men are more likely to develop sleep apnea.
Obstructive sleep apnea is also associated with the following:
Central sleep apnea is much rarer than OSA and may be associated with:
- opioids
- abnormal breathing patterns
- Parkinson’s disease
- osteoarthritis
- cervical spondylosis
- stroke
- heart failure or heart attack
- encephalitis
Overlapping causes and risk factors
Insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea, and central sleep apnea share some of the same underlying causes, including:
Insomnia and sleep apnea have different diagnostic criteria. However, both involve monitoring factors to do with your sleep cycles.
Insomnia
The best way to get to the bottom of insomnia is to rule out other conditions. Your clinician may ask you to document your nighttime routine for a week or two to help weed out possible triggers.
They may advise you to note:
- how long it takes you to fall asleep
- whether you wake up during the night
- whether you wake up multiple times in the night
- how many times you wake up throughout the night
- how long these periods of wakefulness last
- what time you wake up and get out of bed to start your day
- your overall sleep quality rating
Sleep apnea
Sleep apnea is categorized as sudden drops in access to oxygen while asleep. Your clinician may request a sleep study to see how often your breathing is interrupted and for how long.
You may be asked to spend the night at a lab, clinic, or another healthcare facility so you can sleep under a clinician’s supervision. Or you may also be able to to the sleep study at home.
You’ll be hooked up to equipment that monitors your heart, lung, and brain activity, blood oxygen levels, breathing patterns, and movements while you sleep.
Overlapping tools for diagnosis
It’s possible to be diagnosed with both conditions separately or simultaneously. Sleep apnea could cause anxiety, which may lead to acute insomnia.
Each condition has a different diagnostic process and different treatment options. It’s important to receive the proper diagnosis to ensure you start the correct treatment plan for your condition.
Each condition has specific methods that are recommended to ease symptoms, however, some treatment options may be helpful for both conditions.
Insomnia
Insomnia related to new beginnings should subside once the newness wears off. However, a new job, house, or bed could cause sleep problems for a short period.
Good sleep hygiene can improve most cases of insomnia. Your actions during the day could affect how well you sleep at night.
Over-the-counter medications are available to help with short-term insomnia. However, be sure to consult a healthcare professional before adding a sleep aid to your regimen, as it may negatively interact with other medications. Sleep aids are a short-term solution and aren’t meant to treat insomnia long-term.
If you have chronic insomnia, you may have developed anxiety around your ongoing lack of sleep. Your clinician might refer you to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help change your ideas surrounding sleep.
CBT is the
Sleep apnea
Your clinician may recommend that you use a continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) machine while sleeping to help improve sleep apnea.
A CPAP machine constantly pushes air through your nose and mouth, keeping the passageways open and air flowing freely. This helps prevent shallow breathing, gasping for air, and snoring.
If using a CPAP machine is unsuccessful, surgery may be an option.
Overlapping treatment options
Improving your overall sleep hygiene may help with insomnia and sleep apnea.
If you aren’t already, consider the following:
- powering down phones, TVs, and other blue-light devices an hour or two before bed
- getting blackout curtains or covering your windows to block out light and sound
- exercising earlier in the day instead of before bed
- reducing or cutting out caffeine and alcohol
- avoiding long naps and late-night meals
Catasha Gordon is a sexuality educator from Spencer, Oklahoma. She’s the owner and founder of Expression Over Repression, a company built around sexual expression and knowledge. You can typically find her creating sex education materials or building some kinky hardware in a fresh set of coffin nails. She enjoys catfish (tail on), gardening, eating off her husband’s plate, and Beyoncé. Follow her everywhere.