Extracting from El-Ad, Baruch; Lavie, Peretz (2005). "Effect of sleep apnea on cognition and mood". International Review of Psychiatry 17 (4): 577–582. "patients complain about excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and impaired alertness. In other words, common effects of sleep apnea include daytime fatigue, a slower reaction time, and vision problems. Moreover, patients are examined using standard test batteries in order to further identify parts of the brain that are affected by sleep apnea. Tests have shown that certain parts of the brain cause different effects. The executive functioning part of the brain affects the way the patient plans and initiates tasks. Second, the part of the brain that deals with attention causes difficulty in paying attention, working effectively and processing information when in a waking state. Thirdly, the part of the brain that uses memory and learning is also affected." To put this in highly technical medical jargon, "Untreated sleep apnea can fry your brain - including parts you're going to need" ...and elsewhere on this site the SCA Foundation reported news from Mayo Clinic that the link between sleep apnea and sudden cardiac arrest was significantly stronger than previously thought. Well, let me throw another log on the fire: the sound a person who is having a sudden cardiac arrest is in some cases very similar to the sound you hear from a person suffering from sleep apnea. By the way, more than two-thirds of all out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrests occur in the home. Major point: if your spouse starts making noises that sound like sleep apnea, try to wake your spouse. If you can wake him or her up, have them try to find a sleeping position where the sleep apnea doesn't happen - perhaps on their left side - and get them to a doctor in the morning. There are things such as CPAP machines that can control sleep apnea. If you cannot wake your spouse, take a deep breath, grab your cell phone, call 911, tell the 911 operator the address, what's wrong while you're walking (rapidly) to the front door to unlock it. Then return to the bedroom and get your spouse out of bed & onto the floor on their back. And begin CPR chest compressions.
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