Sleep disorders affect millions of Americans and it seems to be growing more and more everyday. Although the exact reason why this occurs is not known the only way is to actually try to cope by using such technology as a pulse oximeter and treat the disorder in order to live a much more normal life. There are also many different varieties of sleep disorders and the most common of which is actually sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a health condition whereby during the sleep cycle the individual stops breathing for a few seconds and then begins to breath again. What makes this health condition particularly difficult is the fact that it can not be easily detected or felt as it in essence occurs during the sleep period. However, there have been some typical symptoms of the condition that has been shared by quite a many people. One of the main symptoms is in fact fatigue during the day. Because there is not enough oxygen that gets into the body due to the sleep apnea the person will tend to be very sluggish and tired throughout the entire next day. One way to monitor this and to determine whether you are in fact suffering from the sleep condition is to monitor yourself with the use of a pulse oximeter. You simply hook up the device to your finger while you are sleeping and the pulse oximeter automatically and continuously measures your oxygen levels throughout your sleep cycle. Once it gets all of the information it also records that information on the memory so that the physician can at a later time look through the results and actually diagnose the problem. Being so small and portable means that in no way does it impact the sleep and it is such a useful took because for those who are wondering if they are actually suffering from this ailment they can easily use such a device to monitor themselves.