The article is very specifically talking about obstructive sleep apnea, which is caused by a physical obstruction of the airway. It has the hallmark symptom of

The article is very specifically talking about obstructive sleep apnea, which is caused by a physical obstruction of the airway. It has the hallmark symptom of snoring, as that's the body's attempt to force air past the obstruction. There is another form of sleep apnea it doesn't mention at all called central sleep apnea, which is caused by your central nervous system just deciding not to breath. Either on inhale or exhale, it just stops the breathing process as abruptly as hitting a breakpoint in code, before starting right back up after a compiling break[1] like nothing happened. There's no obstruction, no (or little) snoring, and no breathing. Other than the periodic absence of chest compressions and a potential irregular breathing pattern (as your body tries to adjust O2 levels back to normal), there isn't really any external signs that it's occurring. Their long term symptoms[2] are roughly the same, since they both result in chronic blood oxygen deprivation. But they present in polar opposite ways. And it's far less obvious for a partner to pick up on central apnea, since abstaining from breathing for 15-45 seconds is slightly more subtle than loud bursts of snoring. [1] https://xkcd.com/303/ https://xkcd.com/303/ [2] https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/central-sleep-apnea/symptoms-causes/syc-20352109 https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/central-sleep...