{"id":36418,"date":"2025-07-30T17:58:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T17:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/damwebserver.com\/dreamdoctor\/articles\/out-of-breath-2\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T17:58:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T17:58:14","slug":"out-of-breath-2","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/damwebserver.com\/dreamdoctor\/articles\/out-of-breath-2\/","title":{"rendered":"out of breath"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Marissa\u2014 <\/p>\n

I\u2019m glad you wrote in with this excellent question. <\/p>\n

Dreams often include events that are occurring around us (or within us), into their dream story-lines. If it\u2019s cold in our rooms we may dream that we are sleeping outdoors without a blanket. If the phone rings we may dream that we are trying to answer a pay phone\u2014but can\u2019t get in the booth to pick up the receiver. If we are consistently low on oxygen during sleep, we can have recurring dreams of being short of breath. <\/p>\n

Contrary to popular belief, snoring is not a sign of \u201cdeep sleep.\u201d Rather, it is only an indicator that a sleeper is experiencing difficulty getting air into his or her lungs. (In sleep disorders clinics, snoring is an indicator of \u201cincreased resistance in the airway.\u201d) And, while it is true that not everyone who snores has sleep apnea, the fact is that snoring almost always is associated with this dangerous medical condition. <\/p>\n

Sleep apnea is caused by the relaxation of muscle tone that occurs at sleep onset. When our muscle tone relaxes, our airways can become narrow. In some cases (especially if we are sleeping on our backs, which causes the tongue to fall back and crowd the airway), the airway can close off completely. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s the result? To see for yourself, try holding your breath for the next thirty seconds. After fifteen seconds, you will be uncomfortably short of breath. After thirty seconds, your lack of air will become an emergency. When this process occurs during sleep, the body releases a jolt of adrenalin (known as the \u201cfight or flight\u201d response) which wakes us up briefly so that we can resume breathing. Typically we arouse, change position a bit, take four or five deep breaths, and quickly fall back asleep. Once we resume sleep, however, the process soon repeats. People with sleep apnea often experience hundreds of \u201cmicro-arousals\u201d during the course of a night\u2019s sleep. The dangerous aspect of sleep apnea is that you can have this condition for many years without even knowing that you do. Typically the arousals are so brief that we don\u2019t recall them upon awakening in the morning. <\/p>\n

Given your boyfriend\u2019s report that you snore heavily during sleep, I don\u2019t believe that your dreams of being short of breath are a simple coincidence. To the contrary, your dreams almost certainly are showing you, in dream representations, that you are dangerously low on oxygen during sleep. The good news, however, is that sleep apnea is one of the simplest of all sleep disorders to treat. The other good news is that you have discovered this condition while you still are very young. If you make an appointment today to have your sleep apnea evaluated and treated, you will spare yourself the debilitating, and often life-threatening, consequences of this condition. (Sleep apnea places you into an elevated risk category for stroke, heart attack, hypertension and disease). It will also wreak havoc with your personal and professional life, by causing you to be continually tired, run-down, depressed, and not functioning at your full ability. <\/p>\n

The most common remark I hear from sleep apneics after they have successfully received treatment and gotten their energy back? <\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I\u2019d<\/span><\/span> done this ten years ago!\u201d
<\/span><\/span>
Make an appointment today at a sleep disorders center near you<\/span><\/a>. You\u2019ll be glad you did! And, once you get treated, keep spreading the word about the dangers of snoring. It\u2019s no joke! <\/p>\n

Back to the original question<\/a><\/span>
<\/span> Back to Snoring & Sleep Apnea page<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[3226,3233],"class_list":["post-36418","articles","type-articles","status-publish","hentry","category-better-sleep-answer","category-sleep-apnea-better-sleep-answer"],"acf":{"article_id":"1441"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/damwebserver.com\/dreamdoctor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/36418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/damwebserver.com\/dreamdoctor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/damwebserver.com\/dreamdoctor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/damwebserver.com\/dreamdoctor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damwebserver.com\/dreamdoctor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}