We spend about a third of our life asleep. Sleep is essential for our health and well-being. When something interferes with it, our ability to function normally is affected, especially our cognitive skills.

Philips understands that without a night’s restorative sleep, decisions are harder to make and memory is affected. A person can lose up to a month’s productivity and be absent from work for a week over the course of a year because of lack of sleep.

Many things can get in the way of a good night’s sleep - noise and light pollution, the person you share a bed with, and being unwell. At Philips Respironics, we have innovative healthcare solutions that improve the quality of people’s lives by helping them get the rest they need. These devices are designed around people’s needs so they are simple, natural and easy to live with, as well as effective.

One area in which we are a global leader is in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a potentially serious condition in which a person experiences pauses in breathing while asleep as a result of the airway collapsing or becoming blocked. These pauses can last from a few seconds to a few minutes. Normal breathing often resumes with a choking breath or a very loud snort. Someone who has OSA will stop breathing many times through the night, resulting in poor quality sleep that does not refresh or restore them.

OSA is under diagnosed. Many sufferers are unaware that OSA is the cause of their disturbed sleep and it is often their bed partner who realizes they have a breathing problem. Anyone can suffer from OSA and it is frequently found in people who are overweight or have chronic health problems like type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.

OSA may be serious because it may increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes, heart failure and makes irregular heartbeats more likely. If you already have high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and are overweight, having OSA may worsen it. And the potential consequences of continual sleep-deprivation include work-related or driving accidents.