While insomnia is the most common sleep disorder, a lot of attention in the media is focused on sleep apnea because of its association with cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Variations in prevalence from one country to another have been found and data regarding the prevalence of sleep apnea has only been available since the 1990s but the data indicate that across countries 3 to 7% of men and 2 to 5% of women have sleep apnea (Punjabi, 2008). In the US the prevalence rate is 4% of men and 2% of women (Punjabi, 2008). To be diagnosed with sleep apnea there must be repeated breathing pauses during sleep that are accompanied by daytime symptoms like excessive drowsiness. Given the probable under diagnosis of and difficulty of adequately accounting for all cases of sleep apnea, it is likely that the above figures are an underestimate of the true prevalence of the illness.

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