She knew something was wrong with me long before I did.

I first noticed something was wrong with my sleep around 2006, when I started having horrible nightmares that I was being suffocated. I would wake suddenly and sit straight up, gasping for air, like something out of a scary movie.

And then something even stranger started happening: My 86-lb chocolate Labrador, Gracie, started waking me up several times each night, every hour or more. She would come over to the bed and poke my arm or my face with her cold, wet nose. Sometimes she would jump up on the bed and hover over me—and that’s a pretty big dog to be pouncing on me in the middle of the night! I thought maybe she was just getting older and couldn’t hold her bladder like she used to, so I would get up and take her outside. But often when we got there, she would turn around and come back inside the house. I was always exhausted, and so was Gracie. At the same time, my snoring was getting worse. My husband and children started complaining about it. I had no idea this was happening, and my family would say, “You need to tell the doctor about your snoring.”

I still didn’t know what was going on with my dog, but I did eventually mention my snoring to my doctor, and she suggested that I go for a sleep study. I went to the sleep lab, and they hooked me up to so many wires that it was heavy and uncomfortable. At about 7:30 p.m., they told me, “Lights out. Get some sleep.” The problem was, I was not that kind of a sleeper. I needed to wind down by watching TV or reading a book. And it was even harder with all those sensors stuck to my body, so I didn’t sleep at all that night. But even though I didn’t sleep, they deemed my test results normal.

For the next few years, bedtime turned into a really dark time for me. I became a night owl, because I knew either I was going to have nightmares or Gracie would wake me up. Finally, about two years after my first sleep test, I mentioned to my doctor that I didn’t think those results were accurate because I hadn’t fallen asleep. She told me there was a test I could take at home. She put in an order for me, and that test came back positive for sleep apnea. I went back to the sleep lab, and this time they allowed me to watch a little TV until I was ready for lights-out. I slept much better that night, and they put a mask on me after I’d fallen asleep. During that second test, they realized right away that I had moderate to severe sleep apnea, and they fitted me for a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine that same night. When I started wearing the mask to bed at night, the most wonderful thing happened: Gracie stopped waking me up. I realized that she had been watching over me—when she saw that I wasn’t breathing, she’d poke me to wake me up so I’d start breathing again. She was trying to rescue me all along.

Once I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and started using the CPAP mask, my life changed completely. The nightmares stopped, and now I’m going to bed earlier—I see the bedroom as a pleasant place to get some much-needed rest.

I would tell anyone going for a sleep study to mention in advance any needs or routines that will help you sleep better. You want to be as comfortable as possible to get the correct results. Also, listen to your dog or any other pet. Gracie tried her best to tell me that something was wrong, and when I finally listened to her, both our lives became so much better.

It’s estimated that 22% of men and 17% of women have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). “When we sleep, most of our muscles relax,” says Carlos Nunez, M.D., chief medical officer of ResMed. “When the muscles in your throat relax during sleep, the tissues can collapse down and prevent air from passing through.” This can cause you to stop breathing, sometimes 50 or more times an hour. “The brain senses that you’re suffocating and forces you to gasp for breath,” Dr. Nunez says. Some of the biggest risk factors for OSA are obesity, age, a large neck circumference, enlarged tonsils or a small throat, and frequent use of alcohol or sedatives. In addition to leaving you exhausted, untreated OSA can increase your risk of dementia, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes. The most common treatment is a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine, a mask you wear while you sleep that delivers just the right amount of air pressure to keep your airways open. Oral appliances may also be helpful, and in some cases surgery may be recommended.

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