Have you been suffering from mysterious headaches? Are you tired, in the middle of the day—for no reason at all? Are your loved ones complaining that you’re especially irritable or moody?

Amazingly, the root of all these problems may just be your snoring. And unfortunately, snoring may be the sign of a whole range of other, more serious health problems.

Snoring—besides being bothersome to your bedmate—is a common symptom of obstructive sleep apnea. This condition, also known as OSA, actually causes you to stop breathing while you sleep; and often hundreds, if not thousands of times per night.

This halt in breathing occurs when your tongue, throat and jaw muscles relax, which then cause your airway to be blocked. When breathing stops, the body reacts with a momentary spike in blood pressure. Because these jagged halts in breathing can occur hundreds of times nightly, the effects are multiplied—and truly dangerous.

As a result, OSA has been proven to cause a range of serious health problems, including:

• Heart attacks
• Hypertension
• Heart disease and plaque buildup
• Strokes
• Depression
• Diabetes