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.

No wonder we’re fatter and sicker than ever and getting worse every day: New numbers from the CDC show that half of all Americans over the age of TWO YEARS OLD drink at least one soda a day.

Notice the words “at least.” Check out these numbers:

• 70 percent of boys between 2 and 19 get an average of 273 daily calories from sugary drinks alone.
• Men from 20 – 39 are a close second, at 252 daily calories from these drinks.
• 40 percent of adult women between 20 and 39 getting an average of 138 daily calories from the beverages.
• Teen girls take in 171 per day.

Ready for the worst part? Five percent of Americans — in real numbers, that’s some 15 million people — swallow 567 liquid sugar calories a day.

That’s like an entire meal made of soda.

Of course, the beverage industry is spilling that tired old line about no link between their drinks and disease, and they’re claiming that sugary beverages can be part of a healthy lifestyle.

They even have the mainstream on board with this nonsense, with groups like the American Heart Association declaring that people can have three sugary drinks a week and still be “healthy.”

I wonder if that position has anything to do with all the soda companies on the AHA’s Industry Nutrition Advisory Panel. (Take a look at the members here it if you’re curious — and remember, everyone on this list paid the AHA $10K to join.)

The reality is that sugary drinks have been linked to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, metabolic syndrome, and even cancer.

If you love your soda, you’re not going to like hearing this — but there’s simply no reason to drink this stuff at all, and not just because of the sugar. These drinks are chemical nightmares. Even the coloring used in many sodas has been linked to cancer. (Read more here.)

Whatever you do, don’t switch to diet. As bad as the real stuff is, artificial sweeteners can be even worse. Aspartame, for example, has been linked to headaches, asthma, seizures, nerve damage, sleep disorders, mood problems, and more.

If you need some fizz, stick to seltzer. Otherwise, make your drink of choice coffee or tea.

Unsweetened, of course.

If the FDA won’t go after diet sodas for all the dangerous chemicals they contain, maybe the FTC can take action for false advertising.

There’s nothing “diet” about diet sodas. After all, studies have linked them to metabolic syndrome, diabetes, heart problems, and more.

And now, yet another study confirms that people who drink the most diet soda have the biggest bellies.

Researchers from the University of Texas medical school examined data on 474 seniors who took part in the San Antonio Longitudinal Study of Aging, and found that the waistlines of those who drank diet soda grew 70 percent more than those who didn’t drink the stuff during the average follow-up of nearly 10 years.

And the more they drank, the more they grew: The researchers say those who drank two or more diet sodas a day had five times the increase in belly size than those who drank no soda, according to the study presented at a recent American Diabetes Association meeting.

In real terms, that means a diet soda habit will put you into pants with a waistline two inches bigger than the ones you’re wearing now.

So much for “diet.”

The researchers didn’t stop there. They also found a link between aspartame — the main sweetener used in diet sodas –and diabetes.

Researchers fed mice prone to diabetes either a high-fat diet or a high-fat diet with aspartame for three months, and found that the rodents that got the sweetener had higher levels of fasting glucose.

The researchers say these mice were essentially prediabetic.

But no one should be surprised by any of this, because diet soda has been linked to serious health problems time and again.

One recent study found that women who drink the most diet soda have a 61 percent higher risk of vascular events such as heart attack and stroke than women who don’t drink diet soda.

Another recent study found that the caramel color used in both diet and regular sodas contains high levels of chemical compounds linked to cancer.

In addition, soda cans are lined with BPA — the hormone-like chemical linked to everything from obesity to sexual problems.

Of course, sugar-packed regular soda is every bit as bad for you — and don’t buy into the hype over “real sugar” colas or Mexican Coke.

If you just have to have to have some fizz in your water, try plain old seltzer instead.

No one’s ever gotten fat or sick on that.

It’s so easy it seems unreal: A key weapon in the fight against diabetes might be hovering right outside your window, right now.

It’s the sun — the primary source of vitamin D, and a new study shows how this pancreas-boosting super nutrient can
help stop the disease before it starts.

Researchers gave 92 pre-diabetics either vitamin D3 supplements, calcium supplements, both, or a placebo for four months — then ran some blood tests and found that patients who took the D3 had slightly better blood sugar levels.

Not that big of a deal.

But this is a big deal: The patients who took D3 had dramatically better pancreas function — with the organ’s beta cells showing improvements of up to 30 percent.

Those beta cells are needed to make insulin — and when they stop doing their job, you get diabetes.

The researchers wrote in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that calcium didn’t make a difference when it came to giving those cells a lift — just the D3.

It’s not the first study to make the link: Research has found time and again that vitamin D can help control blood sugar levels (even more so than in this study) and lower the overall risk of diabetes.

One study last year found that people middle aged and older with the highest D levels had a 55 percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes and 51 percent lower risk of metabolic syndrome than those with the least.

That should be enough to entice any pre-diabetic into spending more quality time under the sun, or at least investing in a quality D3 supplement — but while the sunshine vitamin is a great place to start, you’ll need a few more weapons if you hope to win the war against this disease.

Cinnamon — as in the spice, but you’ll want the extract — has shown an amazing ability to slash blood sugar levels and reduce your blood pressure, while the mineral chromium can reduce both fasting insulin and fasting glucose levels.

And if you want to put some punch into your plan, try Popeye’s favorite source of power: spinach. This leafy green is packed with magnesium, which studies have shown can lower your levels of insulin resistance and slash your risk of diabetes. (Read more here.)

Your body also needs magnesium to put its vitamin D to work — so if you’re going to get one, be sure to get the other.

Up next: More on vitamin D.