If just the thought of losing your breath as you sleep is frightening, you should see what it looks like when it really happens.

This video of a man with sleep apnea was posted on the Web site of the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph.

In the video, the man stops breathing for 40 seconds in his sleep. But what’s even more frightening is what you don’t see: He also operates heavy machinery for a living— and his apnea has left him tired at work.

This can’t end well.

And this video shows just one apnea incident — but patients who have the condition can stop breathing dozens and even hundreds of times each night, depriving the heart and brain of essential oxygen.

One new study finds women who battle the condition have a 350 percent higher risk of dying of heart disease — and other studies have found similar risks for men. Along with heart problems, apnea has been linked to dementia, stroke, diabetes and more — with another new study showing how apnea can even boost your risk of sudden deafness by nearly 50 percent.

In the short term, some apnea patients use continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP machines — uncomfortable oxygen masks that come with risks of their own, and that’s if you can even manage to keep them on all night.

In one study, only two out of 35 patients could tolerate them long enough to see a benefit.

But even if you can handle wearing an oxygen mask all night, it’s not a permanent solution.

In many cases, apnea is caused by obesity — so if you’re overweight and your spouse has seen you lose your breath in the night, drop those extra pounds ASAP and chances are you won’t need CPAP.

And if you’ve gotten too big over the years and find yourself not as rested in the morning as you used to be, you might have the condition, too. Other warning signs to watch for: headaches, waking up with a dry mouth or sore throat, frequent nighttime bathroom trips and mood changes.

A night in a sleep clinic can help you figure it out — but in the meantime, lose the weight anyway. Even if it’s not causing sleep apnea — yet — it’s not doing you any favors.

Everyone’s terrified of trans fats these days, and it’s not hard to see why: They’ve been so vilified that some places are actually banning them.

Must be something to it, right?

There is — because the trans fats that come from hydrogenated vegetable oils are every bit as bad as their reputation, and then some: They’ll up your odds of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, dementia, depression and more.

Avoid them like the plague, and I’ll tell you how in a moment (it’s not as easy as it sounds).

But there’s another type of trans fat — the trans fats found in fresh meats and dairy. And the latest research confirms that not only is this stuff harmless, but you want to go out of your way to get it.

Researchers put 61 women onto a diet rich in these natural trans fats for a month — something the health officials who are issuing blanket trans fat bans would have you believe is a recipe for disaster.

No disaster here.

In fact, according to the study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, these women had no increase in any of the traditional mainstream risk factors for heart problems — including no changes to their levels of LDL cholesterol or triglycerides.

And for a month, they got to eat some actual fresh, natural fats — something more of us could use these days, since natural meats and dairy are some of the healthiest foods around.

Unfortunately, most people don’t get their trans fats from natural meats and dairy. They get them from fast food, snacks and even so-called “healthy” alternatives like margarine.

And spotting these food by checking the nutritional labels isn’t as easy as you might think. Believe it or not food companies are allowed to round small amounts of trans fats down to zero, as if they don’t exist at all.

Meanwhile, all it takes is just a few servings for that little bit to turn into too much — a little supermarket coffee creamer and some margarine each day, for example, and you could actually exceed the recommended daily intake for these deadly fats.

The fact is you can’t trust the “ZERO TRANS FATS” package blurbs or even the nutritional information tables. Go right to the ingredients label instead — and if the product contains any partially hydrogenated vegetable oils at all, put it back.

That’s a sure sign of trans fats — and even if it was truly trans fat free, odds are it’s something you shouldn’t be eating anyway.

And really, let’s get real here; is there anyone who actually likes the taste of margarine?

When it comes to booze and heart health, wine usually gets all the attention — but it doesn’t quite deserve it.

Sure, wine is great for you — but it’s not the only healthy adult beverage in the bar.

In fact, you can get just about all the benefits of wine and then some from plain old beer — and the latest research confirms that a cold brew is every bit as good for your heart as a glass of red.

Researchers from Italy’s Fondazione di Ricerca e Cura say their survey of 200,000 people from around the world finds that regular beer drinkers have a 31 percent lower risk of heart disease than people who don’t drink booze at all.

That’s precisely the same decrease in heart risk enjoyed by wine drinkers — but it’s coming from hops and barley instead of grapes, according to the study in the European Journal of Epidemiology.

And that’s not all beer can do for you — not even close. Beer is also rich in potassium, magnesium, B vitamins and key antioxidants. It can help lower the inflammation linked to heart disease and other serious problems, and raise levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol by as much as 12 percent.

Beer is also the single best source of dietary silicon around, which can help protect your bones as you age.

One study even found that dieters who drink beer can lose more weight — proving that the so-called “beer belly” is a myth. If you see a drinker with a big belly, take a look at what he’s eating — because that’s almost certainly the real reason for his keg-sized gut.

Of course, whether you drink wine or beer, you’ll only get the benefits if you make your habit a moderate one and cut yourself off before you drink too much (and if you have to wonder if you’ve had too much, you’ve probably reached that point).

Keep it to a glass or two a night, and you’ll enjoy both the benefits and the taste.

So go ahead — pop the cork or crack open a frosty one. It’s good for you.

Ever watch someone with sleep apnea? It’s one of the most frightening — and unforgettable — things you’ll ever see.

One minute, the sleeper is snoring away. The next, nothing.

At first, you might be thankful for the quiet — until you realize the reason for that sudden silence: they’re not breathing.

Someone with apnea can go through dozens of breathless bouts per night and never even realize it — but in this case, what you don’t know can not only hurt you… it can kill you, too.

Apnea has been linked to everything from sexual dysfunction and metabolic syndrome to diabetes and heart disease — but now, researchers have confirmed that it’s not too late for people already fighting that nightly battle.

The standard mainstream treatment for apnea is an oxygen mask called CPAP, for continuous positive airway pressure. In a new study, 86 patients with moderate to severe apnea were assigned to either the real CPAP mask or a sham treatment.

After three months, the volunteers took a one-month break… then switched places for another three months.

When they got the real CPAP, the volunteers saw drops in blood pressure and cholesterol levels — including an average dip of nearly 20 points in dangerous triglycerides — as well as better control of their blood sugar levels.

More importantly, they also lost weight — and while most of the patients were battling metabolic syndrome at the start of the study, 13 percent no longer had the condition after the three months of CPAP, according to the study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

But does all the credit go to that mask?

The researchers say they’re not sure — and I’m not either, because while CPAP can help get you through the night, the best way to beat apnea isn’t with oxygen — it’s with lifestyle changes.

And it starts with losing some weight — like the patients in this study managed to do. Studies have shown that even modest weight loss can end the apnea as well as slash your risk of diabetes and heart disease.

Lose that weight yourself, and you’ll not only look and feel better than you have in years — you’ll sleep better, too.