A lot of people say it's like they altogether stop breathing in the middle of the night, but the most common form of sleep Apnea actually starts in your throat.

Aspirus Sleep Disorders Ctr. Medical Director Dr. Jim Cygan says, "It's simply the back of the throat collapsing on itself. It's not that you don't breathe, it's almost like somebody trying to choke you at night."

Dr. Cygan says this disorder affects anywhere from five to 25-percent of our population, "Typical symptoms are loud snoring, feeling unrefreshing sleep, feeling you don't have the energy to do as much as you want to.”

He says there are three main reasons for developing sleep Apnea. It can simply be one's body composition, the back of a person's throat being abnormally narrow, or being obese.

"As you get older in life and you're gaining more weight, there's increased risk for developing sleep Apnea,” Cygan adds.

But, there's a simple air pressure machine that is almost 100 percent effective.

It's called a C-PAP. It simply blows air through a tube into the mask the person wears while they sleep to keep air flowing down their throat while they rest.

But Dr. Cygan says curing sleep Apnea isn't the number one reason for using the C-PAP, it's lowering the risk of developing other deadly disorders.

"Sleep Apnea itself increases the chance of high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, pulmi-hypertension,” Cygan says.

Other non-surgical procedures: Some dentists create mouthpieces like what you see athletes wear, to move your lower jaw forward while you sleep and opening up your throat at the same time.

And, losing weight; many obese people get treated for sleep Apnea because the extra skin and fat in their throat region blocks their airway when lying down.