Today is Sleep Apnea Awareness Day

Professor Colin Sullivan treating a sleep apnea client in Australia in 1989.

From the ASAA: "On this day in 1981, Professional Colin Sullivan published the results of a small study (five patients) in the British Medical Journal The Lancet entitled 'Reversal of Obstructive Sleep Apnoea by Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Applied Through the Nares.'

The use of CPAP revolutionized the treatment of a condition, providing a non-invasive means to eliminate the severe oxygen desaturations and resulting sleep fragmentation that occurs when someone as has sleep apnea. This treatment improves the quality of life by providing a restful night's sleep and there is evidence that it has a positive impact on other conditions like hypertension, diabetes, and depression.

Choosing April 18th as Sleep Apnea Awareness Day we also honor Dr. Colin E. Sullivan, the inventor of CPAP and lead author on the above reference study. The Association published an interview with Dr. Sullivan in the Wake-Up Call in 2006.

His discovery has had a significant positive  impact on the lives of many, many people."

For more information, please visit the
American Sleep Apnea Association