Recognizing sleep apnea

The symptoms of sleep apnea

Q: What are the main symptoms of sleep apnea?

The most common are snoring, pauses in breathing that others notice, tiredness and sleepiness during the day, morning headaches, trouble concentrating, getting up at night to urinate, and waking up with a choking feeling.

Q: Can you have sleep apnea without snoring?

Yes. Snoring is common, but it is not always there. In fact, many people with sleep apnea have hardly any symptoms. In women, the signs are often different: insomnia, restless legs, depression.

Q: Can constant tiredness be a sign of sleep apnea?

It can. Tiredness that lingers despite enough sleep is one of the most common reasons people end up seeing a doctor. Repeated brief awakenings break up sleep and make it less restful. But tiredness has plenty of other possible causes, and only a sleep study can confirm sleep apnea.

Q: Do women have the same symptoms as men?

Not always. Women more often report insomnia, restless legs, depression, nightmares or a racing heart at night, and less often the classic snoring. After menopause, the odds of sleep apnea rise sharply: 2.6 times higher, and 3.5 times for moderate to severe sleep apnea, in the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort.

Q: When should I see a doctor about possible sleep apnea?

When several of these signs keep coming back: snoring, ongoing tiredness, daytime sleepiness, morning headaches, waking often at night, getting up to urinate. And right away if someone has seen you stop breathing. The STOP-BANG questionnaire can help you prepare for the appointment.

Sleep apnea often creeps in quietly. Many people see their doctor about tiredness or headaches without ever thinking it could be their sleep, and some have hardly any symptoms at all. Here are the signs worth knowing, from the most telling to the easiest to miss.

The sleep apnea iceberg: above the waterline, the visible symptoms (snoring, tiredness, headaches, sleepiness); below it, the hidden consequences (high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, depression, heart disease)

Loud, regular snoring

Key sign

It is often the most noticeable sign. Snoring comes from the soft tissues of the throat vibrating as air passes through. Not everyone who snores has sleep apnea, and not everyone with sleep apnea snores: snoring alone can neither confirm nor rule it out.

Pauses in breathing that others notice

Strong warning sign

Your bed partner notices that you stop breathing during the night, sometimes followed by a snort or a gasp as you start again. It is one of the signs that points most clearly to sleep apnea.

Tiredness and unrefreshing sleep

Common

You spend 7 or 8 hours in bed and still wake up exhausted. Repeated brief awakenings break up your sleep and make it far less restful, even if you have no memory of them.

Excessive daytime sleepiness

Dangerous when driving

You doze off without meaning to during the day, especially when you are sitting still: reading, watching TV, sometimes behind the wheel. It is the most common symptom, yet many people with sleep apnea never feel it. Doctors use the Epworth scale to measure it.

Morning headaches

Fairly common

A headache that is already there when you wake up, often on both sides of the head. It lasts less than 4 hours and keeps coming back, sometimes on 15 days a month or more. No one knows exactly what causes it, but it goes away once the sleep apnea is properly treated.

Trouble concentrating and remembering

Common

You find it hard to focus, you forget things, your head feels foggy. Night after night of broken sleep eventually takes a toll on attention and memory.

Nocturia (getting up at night to urinate)

Often overlooked

Getting up twice or more a night to pee. It is often blamed on the bladder or the prostate, but sleep apnea can be the real cause: at night, people with sleep apnea release more of the hormones that make the body flush out salt and water (natriuretic peptides).

Waking up choking or gasping

Warning sign

You wake up suddenly, short of breath, sometimes feeling panicky. Tell your doctor right away.

Other related signs

They are less specific, but they can help complete the picture:

Irritability and mood swings

Lower sex drive

Dry mouth on waking

Acid reflux at night

Heavy night sweats

High blood pressure that is hard to control

Depression or anxiety with no obvious cause

Sleep apnea in women: different signs

Women tend to be diagnosed later, because sleep apnea often shows up differently in them. In a study of more than 3,500 patients referred to a sleep laboratory, women were more likely than men to report:

Insomnia
Restless legs
Depression
Nightmares and a racing heart at night

Menopause matters too. In the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort, women past menopause were 2.6 times more likely to have sleep apnea than women of the same age and weight, and 3.5 times more likely to have moderate to severe sleep apnea.

When should you see a doctor?

Talk to your GP if several of these signs keep coming back, or if someone has seen you stop breathing in your sleep:

Snoring that people around you have noticed
Ongoing tiredness even though you get enough sleep
Sleepiness during the day
Headaches when you wake up

Take the STOP-BANG test → Find a sleep center

Frequently asked questions

What are the main symptoms of sleep apnea?

Can you have sleep apnea without snoring?

Can constant tiredness be a sign of sleep apnea?

Do women have the same symptoms as men?

When should I see a doctor about possible sleep apnea?

Next step

Check your risk in 2 minutes

In its validation study, the STOP-BANG questionnaire picked up 93% of moderate to severe sleep apnea. Free, with an instant score and a PDF report to give your doctor.

Take the test

Sources

Gottlieb DJ, Punjabi NM. Diagnosis and Management of Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Review. JAMA. 2020;323(14):1389-1400.
Gawrys B, Silva TW, Herness J. Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Adults: Common Questions and Answers. Am Fam Physician. 2024;110(1):27-36.
Headache Classification Committee of the International Headache Society. ICHD-3, 10.1.4 Sleep apnoea headache. 2018.
Hoshiyama F, et al. The impact of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome on nocturnal urine production in older men with nocturia. Urology. 2014;84(4):892-896.
Valipour A, et al. Gender-related differences in symptoms of patients with suspected breathing disorders in sleep. Sleep. 2007;30(3):312-319.
Young T, et al. Menopausal status and sleep-disordered breathing in the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort Study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2003;167(9):1181-1185.
Chung F, et al. STOP questionnaire: a tool to screen patients for obstructive sleep apnea. Anesthesiology. 2008;108(5):812-821.

Updated November 5, 2026

Andy Leleux

Sleep technologist specialized in CPAP therapy · More than 10 years in sleep medicine

This project rests on more than ten years of clinical work in the sleep laboratory and on a close knowledge of CPAP equipment. That double perspective, clinical and technical, is what Association Apnée is built on.

About the author → | andyleleux.com

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