Here are some eye-opening sleep apnea statistics:

• Nearly 7% of the population suffers from sleep apnea.
• People of African descent are at a greater risk for apnea than are people of European descent.
• Sleep apnea sufferers are four times more likely to have a stroke than are people without apnea.
• They are also three times more likely to have some form of heart disease.
• Nearly half of hospital patients with high blood pressure also suffer from sleep apnea.
• People afflicted with sleep apnea are over six times more likely to cause an automobile accident, due to apnea's side effects of sleep deprivation and drowsiness.
• Partners of people with obstructive sleep apnea lose up to a full hour of sleep each night due to their mate's condition.
• An average night for the typical person afflicted with obstructive sleep apnea includes 400 episodes of breathing cessation.