Klar Yaggi was first drawn to sleep medicine for the mystery.
"It's still a very young field with a lot of interesting questions that remain to be asked and answered," said Yaggi, professor of internal medicine (pulmonary, critical care & sleep medicine) at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) and director of the Yale Center for Sleep Medicine.
He became especially interested in studying sleep-disordered breathing, with a focus on the different health implications of sleep apnea for different people. It can produce symptoms like excessive daytime sleepiness. It can also affect cognitive function, particularly executive function, decision making, and impulsivity. It has been linked with mental health, anxiety, and depression.
"And from a chronic disease outcome, it has been linked with heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, and diabetes, so some of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in this country," said Yaggi, who is also the vice chief of research for the Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine at YSM
About one in eight people globally have some form of sleep apnea. Sleep apnea causes breathing to stop and start several times during sleep. This happens because either your airway is blocked, known as obstructive sleep apnea, or you brain isn't controlling your breathing as it should, known as central sleep apnea.
For decades, the main form of treatment for this population has been the continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine, which helps keep a person's airways open while they sleep. That way, they're able to receive the oxygen you need. But CPAP doesn't work for every patient.
But new technologies are emerging, Yaggi says. In an interview, he explains how some of these new treatments work, how technology is changing diagnosis of sleep apnea, and the importance of patient choice when deciding which treatment is best for them.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
