A common sleep disorder, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) affects 1 billion people around the globe, and in the US, 9%- 17% of women 25%-30% of men. It's characterized by the upper airway narrowing or collapsing when throat muscles relax too much during sleep.

When these obstructions occur, breathing stops for anywhere between a few seconds to more than a minute, which is called an apnea. This causes oxygen levels to drop, which signals to our brain to wake us up so we can breathe. The result is disrupted sleep due to multiple awakenings caused by the disorder.

A new study looking at changes in severity of OSA over the course of the week has found that weekends showed a significant worsening of OSA, leading to the researchers to coin the phrase 'social apnea' to describe the phenomenon.

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