text: why do i wake up gasping for breath? sometimes i wake up in the middle of the night and its like i,ve forgotton how to breathe! i have to force myself to draw in breath, or cough or something.it's quite a scary thing at the time. perhaps you have sleep apnea or some other sleeping or breathing disorder.  consult your doctor and they can run some tests to find out.      sleep apnea (alternatively sleep apnoea) is a common sleep disorder characterized by brief interruptions of breathing during sleep. these episodes, called apneas, last 10 seconds or more and occur repeatedly throughout the night. people with sleep apnea partially awaken as they struggle to breathe, but in the morning they may not be aware of the disturbances in their sleep.  the most common type of sleep apnea is obstructive sleep apnea (osa), caused by relaxation of soft tissue in the back of the throat that blocks the passage of air.  central sleep apnea (csa) is caused by irregularities in the brain’s normal signals to breathe.    symptoms the hallmark symptom of the disorder is excessive daytime sleepiness. additional symptoms of sleep apnea include restless sleep, loud snoring (with periods of silence followed by gasps), falling asleep during the day, morning headaches, trouble concentrating, irritability, forgetfulness, mood or behavior changes, weight gain, increased heart rate, anxiety, and depression. obstructive sleep apnea is more likely to occur in men than in women, and in people who are overweight or obese.  [edit] history considering how common a condition it is, it is remarkable that the first reports of what is now called obstructive sleep apnea date only from 1965 when it was independently described by french and german investigators. the term “pickwickian syndrome”, inspired by charles dickens' account in the pickwick papers of joe, the fat boy, has been used in medicine to describe various conditions associated with obesity, excessive appetite and sleepiness and it was once presumed to be due to an endocrine problem. “pickwickian syndrome” soon became the descriptor for the newly identified disorder but as more cases were recognized it became clear that neither obesity nor somnolence were necessarily present. “pickwickian” was later reserved for “the obesity-hypoventilation syndrome” and today the term is best avoided because of its ill-defined meaning.  the early reports of sleep apnea described individuals who were very severely affected, often presenting with severe hypoxemia, hypercapnia and congestive heart failure. tracheostomy was the recommended treatment and, though it could be life-saving, post-operative complications in the stoma were frequent in these very obese and short-necked individuals.  the management of obstructive sleep apnea was revolutionized with the introduction of continuous positive airway pressure (cpap), first described in 1981 by colin sullivan and associates in sydney, australia. the first models were bulky and noisy but the design was rapidly improved and by the late 1980s cpap was widely adopted. the availability of an effective treatment stimulated an aggressive search for affected individuals and led to the establishment of hundreds of specialized clinics dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders. though many types of sleep problems are recognized, the vast majority of patients attending these centers have sleep disordered breathing.  [edit] obstructive sleep apnea (osa)   two minute epoch representing continuous osa. click on this image for larger version.most people with sleep apnea have obstructive apnea, in which the person stops breathing during sleep due to airway blockage. sufferers usually resume breathing within a few seconds, but periods of as long as sixty seconds are not uncommon in serious cases. it is more common amongst people who snore, who are obese, who consume alcohol, or who have anatomical abnormalities of the jaw or soft palate. however, atypical cases do occur, and the condition should not be ruled out unilaterally merely because the patient does not fit the profile.  "osa" is caused by the relaxation of the muscles in the airway durin