I am having a problem with my sleep. What happens is that I get to sleep through sheer exhaustion which is the result for what I am about to tell you. My deep sleep lasts about 4 hours and then I get into s sleep where I am dreaming I am trying to resolve a problem but it never gets solved. Sometimes I am driving a car and the brake wont work (this is a common dream) but its always tense and I wak up exhausted. Now what I have noticed recently is that I am waking up from this sleep in a shock because I can t breath. I then try to setle down to get back to sleep but the same thing happens -- every time I fall drift back to sleep I get shocked awake but not be able to breathe. What I do then is give up trying to sleep anymore and have a nap late morning to catch up and also in the afternoon. In the afternoon if I sleep too long the same thing happens. I have had this happen to me in the past but not like nowadays. I had an ECG recently for something else and it showed my heart was normal. I don t know what is causing this because I don t get shortness of breath during the day. This seems to be sleep related. I am an anxious person but I don t have panic attacks. I am male and 69