Surgery 16 years ago had failed to correct Polson's sleep apnea disorder, which grew increasingly worse over the years. The 48-year-old Hopedale, Ill., police officer even recalled falling asleep on a number of occasions while driving his car home from work.

"I would wake up when my car went over the rumble strips in the side of the road," Polson said. "I would come home from work and fall asleep within minutes. My wife was urging me for years to go back to the doctors to see if there was anything else they could do, but I was stubborn. I didn't think I needed help. But it got so bad I finally decided to do something."

Obstructive sleep apnea - repeated collapse of the airway during sleep - is a debilitating, life-threatening problem that affects at least 9 million Americans. Studies have shown that sleep apnea contributes to high blood pressure and increases the risk of a stroke and heart attack. And persons with sleep apnea are likely to have damage to blood vessels that can lead to heart disease.

Polson was evaluated for sleep apnea at OSF Saint Francis Sleep Disorders Center, one of several sleep disorder centers in the area.

"It's considered abnormal for a person's breathing to stop more than five times an hour while sleeping," said Dr. Sarah Zallek, medical director for the OSF sleep disorders center.

When Polson was tested at the sleep center during an overnight study, he stopped breathing more than 120 times an hour while asleep.

"They also told me my blood pressure was at stroke level," the police officer recalled.

Polson was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. Zallek explained that when a person is awake, throat muscles keep the throat open and air flowing into the lungs.

"When a person is asleep, everyone's muscles relax, narrowing the airway by half," the doctor said. "With people with sleep apnea, the throat relaxes to the point it collapses and blocks the airway. When this happens, the brain awakens the body to get you breathing again. This is repeated throughout the night hundreds of times in severe cases. It results in poor quality of sleep and a drop in the oxygen level in the blood."

In the sleep lab, Zallek has seen sleep apnea patients stop breathing from 10 seconds to over two minutes. Body fat is the biggest contributing factor to the disorder, Zallek said. Fatty tissue builds up in the throat and makes its harder to keep the throat area open when asleep. More than half of the people who have sleep apnea are overweight, and most snore heavily.

"But by no means is fat the only cause of sleep apnea," the doctor said. "It can affect persons who are thin. It affects all ages and both sexes, although men are twice as likely as women to have the problem. Children ages 2 to 8 are at special risk because of enlarged tonsils."

In addition to a buildup of fatty tissue, sleep apnea can be caused from a person's uvula - the tissue that hangs from the middle of the back of the roof of the mouth - being too long. People with small jaws or those with overbites are also at risk of having sleep apnea.

Symptoms of sleep apnea include loud snoring, morning headaches, high blood pressure, rapid heart rate, restless sleep, feeling irritable, memory loss and frequent urination at night. In addition to an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes, sleep apnea sufferers are at greater risk of accidents at work and in their vehicles.

"We don't think sleep apnea causes diabetes, but it makes diabetes harder to control," Zallek added.

Treatments include surgery to remove tonsils and adenoids, if they are blocking the airway. Another type of surgery is one that removes the uvula and part of the soft palate. The latter surgery is not very effective, Zallek said.

"Removing the uvula and shortening the soft palate works in about a third of the cases at best," the doctor said.

Another treatment is an oral appliance to position the lower jaw forward to help keep the airway in the throat open while sleeping. The most common and effective treatment is CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure), a machine equipped with a face mask that blows air into the throat at a certain pressure level.

"CPAP is the standard of care with most people with sleep apnea," Zallek said. "The air pressure props the airway open. It's a very effective treatment. I would say it's 99 percent successful in people who use it. If the machine is not set for the proper pressure or face comfort, many people, unfortunately, won't use it."

Zallek said early CPAP machines were noisy - the sound of a vacuum cleaner - and uncomfortable. Today, they are quiet, light weight and super soft, according to the doctor. For the past eight months, Polson has been wearing the CPAP mask every night at bedtime.

"I have to admit it took me a little time to get use to it," the police officer said. "For me, it's been very successful. I have so much more energy. I'm not sleepy anymore, and my blood pressure is back to normal. Recently, my wife and I took an eight-hour trip in the car and I never once got tired. I'm feeling great, and my wife is sleeping better, too. It would scare her to wake up and see that I wasn't breathing. She would then shake me awake."

Polson also has lost 30 pounds, down from 260. He hopes to lose enough weight that someday he may not need to wear the mask anymore.

"If I don't use machine, I don't sleep well," Polson said. "Not long ago the power went out in Hopedale. I couldn't use the machine that night. My wife said I was back to the same old routine - my breathing would stop and I was snoring loudly."

A study within the past two years has found that treating sleep apnea may have the added benefit of helping patients lose weight. Sleep deprivation, for whatever reason, reduces the amount of a hormone called leptin, which plays a role in regulating weight by suppressing a person's appetite.

"Leptin makes you feel full when you eat," Zallek said. "People with sleep deprivation have less leptin. After treating sleep apnea, the amount of leptin goes up, which can help a sleep apnea patient lose weight."

The OSF Saint Francis Sleep Disorders Center is a comprehensive clinic equipped with hotel-style rooms for overnight sleep studies. The rooms have private bathrooms, televisions, large beds, desks and recliners to make the patients feel at home and give them the best chance for a good night's sleep. A technician monitors a patient's sleep patterns, heart rate, amount of oxygen in blood, snoring, body movements and breathing.

Since its beginning five years ago, Zallek's sleep center has examined 10,000 patients for all kinds of sleep problems, the majority of which were diagnosed with sleep apnea.

"A great deal of people who suffer with sleep apnea go undiagnosed," Zallek said. "Most people aren't aware of how serious the problem is. And most people don't know there are effective treatments."

Polson said he regrets not seeking medical help sooner. He urges anyone who snores and suffers sleep deprivation to have a sleep study done.

"I'm living proof that it can make you a new person," he said.