While snoring can make for a tough night’s sleep for you and your bed mate, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a sign of a bigger problem that should be looked into. This condition raises your risk for other health issues like high blood pressure and diabetes, and can even make you more dangerous when you get behind the wheel of a car, so to say sleep apnea can be harmful is something of an understatement.
Let’s take a closer look at the top health problems you might face if you have OSA:
- High Blood Pressure – Already suffering from high blood pressure? Sleep apnea can make it worse. When you wake up often during the night, your body gets stressed, and that causes your hormone systems to go into overdrive – thus boosting your blood pressure levels. Additionally, when you have trouble breathing, the level of oxygen in your blood drops, and this may also contribute to the problem.
- Heart Disease – It is something of a fact that people who experience sleep apnea are more likely to have heart attacks; low oxygen is often the cause, but strokes and atrial fibrillation – a fast, fluttering heartbeat – are also linked with the condition.
- Type 2 Diabetes – Sleep apnea is common among people with this condition, with some 80-percent or more of them reporting OSA. Further, obesity raises an individual’s risk for both disorders, and though studies haven’t shown a cause-and-effect link between type 2 diabetes and sleep apnea, not getting enough shut-eye can keep your body from utilizing insulin properly, which ultimately leads to diabetes.
- Weight Gain – Extra pounds raise your chances of experiencing sleep apnea, and if that wasn’t enough, the condition also makes it harder to shed those pounds. When we’re overweight, fatty deposits in the neck can block breathing at night, but the good news is that treatment for sleep apnea can make you feel better, with more energy for exercise and other activities. This can help you lose weight, which can help your sleep apnea.
- Acid Reflux – There is no proof that sleep apnea causes this kind of heartburn condition, but we can tell you from experience that many people out there report it’s a definite problem. Treating reflux seems to improve sleep apnea symptoms for some individuals, and treating OSA helps symptoms of reflux, many sleep physicians say.
- Depression and Anxiety – Sleep Apnea can make your depression and anxiety much worse. Lack of peaceful sleep and constantly being awakened by snoring can cause depression and anxiety to worsen if not treated by a medical professional. Sometimes over the counter remedies, like nose strips, just don’t work.
All the health problems associated to the condition of sleep apnea sound scary, but there are a number of ways to treat it. As a sleep medicine specialist in Kansas City, Dr. Abid Bhat and the Sweet Sleep Studio staff can help with any sleep-oriented disorder you may be suffering with, including apnea. Call us today to experience the best treatment for sleep apnea in Kansas City at (913) 309-5963.
