Central sleep apnea occurs when your brain fails to transmit signals to your breathing muscles. In central sleep apnea you repeatedly stop breathing while you sleep because your brain doesn t tell your muscles to breathe. Pin On Sleep There may be a choking or snorting sound as breathing resumes. Sleep apnea neurological . Central sleep apnea csa or central sleep apnea syndrome csas is a sleep related disorder in which the effort to breathe is diminished or absent typically for 10 to 30 seconds either intermittently or in cycles and is usually associated with a reduction in blood oxygen saturation. No sleep apnea is not a neurological disorder. Learn more about causes types risk factors symptoms diagnosis. Untreated sleep apnea causes breathing to stop repeatedly during sleep causing loud snoring and daytime tiredness even with a full night s sleep. Csa is usually due to an instability in the body s feedback mechanisms that control respiration. Neurological causes of apnea...