HHS HealthBeat (February 22, 2008)

The risk on dozing off 3

Bernadette Boden-Albala of Columbia University Medical Center in New York says her finding reflects various forms of sleep disturbance, including sleep apnea, which involves difficulty breathing during sleep.

“Sleep apnea is usually caused by an obstruction of tissue when people are breathing. There are other studies that show that that does lead to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. But we also believe that this scale measures not just apnea but other types of sleep disturbances.” (17 seconds)

Last revised: February, 21 2008