ABSTRACT

ment in job performance, greater alertness, and a general sense of well-being. However, one of the greatest challenges of a sleep physician lies in identifying OSA patients who present with non-sleepiness-related problems. Our present understanding of the physiological impact of sleep apnea on wakefulness is very much limited to the effects of sleep apnea on sleepiness. Future breakthroughs in our understanding of the non-sleepiness-related problems of impaired wakefulness brought about by sleep apnea may someday uncover new direct associations between sleep apnea and problems related to impaired level of wakefulness, like depression and chronic fatigue, that may not be sleepiness-related. This may change the way we look at neuropsychiatric conditions in the future.