Specific Effects of Sleep Apnea
The detrimental effects of sleep apnea range from annoying to life threatening. These effects of sleep apnea can include:

•Depression
•High blood pressure
•Irritability
•Sexual dysfunction
•Learning and memory problems
•Falling asleep while at work, on the phone, or driving.

People with severe sleep apnea are two to three times more likely to have automobile crashes. The risk of heart attacks, high blood pressure, heart failure, and stroke also increase if a person has sleep apnea.

I have snored all my life. Diagnosed with hypertension before I was 30. ABout 10 years ago, I took the sleep apnea quiz (google it, it is everywhere) and got checked out. Turns out I was waking myself up (although I didn't know it) about every 30 seconds. This means that I never hit REM sleep, which is necesary to provide the "sleep benefits" to your body. CPAP completely ended the problem. Yeah, everyone says they could not sleep with a anything on their face, but it takes about 2 nights to get used to it...and I no longer wake up all stuffed up.

dw