People with sleep apnea struggle to remember details of memories from their own lives, putting them at risk of depression. Summary: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is estimated to affect over 936 million people worldwide, and people with OSA are known to suffer memory problems and depression.
Besides leaving you sleepy during the day, sleep apnea can cause forgetfulness, as well as trouble concentrating, organizing and planning. Obstructive sleep apnea happens when the muscles at the back of your throat relax more than they should while you sleep, partially or fully blocking air from going into your body.
How Does Sleep Apnea Affect Dreams? If you can't remember your dreams, it's possible that sleep apnea is the reason. A study recently found that only 43.2 people with sleep apnea remembered their dreams compared to 71.4 of those without sleep apnea.
It can cause you to stop breathing for 20 to 30 seconds at a time, numerous times throughout the night. Untreated apnea can increase the risk of a number of diseases, including high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some headache syndromes. Yet many people with sleep apnea don't know they have it.
Studies show that patients who develop sleep apnea before the age of fifty have a life expectancy between 8 and 18 years. Fortunately lifestyle changes, treatment, and other interventions can improve the life expectancy of someone with sleep apnea.
Severe sleep apnea shortens life expectancy, in the worse case by as much as 4 times. Individuals with severe sleep apnea from the study reported having strokes and even cancer before they died, proving how much severe sleep apnea can be very destructive to someone's health.
People with OSA may snore loudly or wake up choking or gasping for breath. Additional symptoms. View Source include morning headaches, trouble focusing, and feeling excessively tired or irritable during the day.
People with sleep apnea frequently wake up for a few seconds to gasp for air. This can happen hundreds of times a night in people with severe sleep apnea, Owens says. “If someone witnesses you waking up repeatedly at night, it's very suggestive of obstructive sleep apnea,” he tells WebMD.
But if your IQ as a child was average, somewhere around 90 to 100, and you had sleep apnea that went untreated and lost 8-10 points, that could potentially place you one standard deviation below normal," Gozal said.
While there is no cure for sleep apnea, studies show that certain lifestyle factors can reverse or make your sleep apnea less intense. Other treatment or surgical options can also reverse the condition. Sleep apnea happens when your upper airway muscles relax while you sleep. This causes you to not get enough air.
Because obstructive sleep apnea is associated with obesity and aging, it may be a marker -- rather than a cause -- of life threatening conditions. This review suggests that its importance as a public health problem has been exaggerated.
More than usual daytime sleepiness. Waking up with a dry throat or headache. Waking up often during the night. Difficulty concentrating or mood changes during the day.
Sleeping on Your Side. Side sleeping is better for reducing sleep apnea than back sleeping. Research shows that in many cases, sleeping on your side can significantly reduce breathing disruptions. View Source from both OSA and CSA.
Aerophagia—or air swallowing—results in burping, abdominal distention, and discomfort, and oh my—flatulence! Aerophagia can develop during continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) use. But most CPAP patients do not openly complain of aerophagia symptoms, and clinicians may not specifically ask about it.
Those with the sleep disorder can have increased insulin resistance and glucose intolerance, which can lead to type 2 diabetes, weight gain, and the body storing more fat, especially belly fat. Sleep apnea may cause metabolic dysfunction through a few different pathways.
If you undergo surgery, it will take several days to recover. If you are using CPAP, it will take some time before you notice the positive effects of the treatment. Averagely, the effects will start showing around three months, and full recovery can be up to a year.
There is good news. Upper airway stimulation therapy using a hypoglossal nerve stimulator is an option for people who are unable to tolerate their CPAPs. It's been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea.
Rather than starting to work when a person stops breathing, a CPAP machine prevents lapses in breathing from the time a person goes to sleep. The machine provides a continuous flow of air to prevent any pauses in a person's breathing. It delivers mild air pressure to keep the airways open during sleep.
Inheritance. The inheritance pattern of obstructive sleep apnea is unclear. Overall, the risk of developing this condition is about 50 percent greater for first-degree relatives (such as siblings or children) of affected individuals as compared to the general public.
When OSA is not treated, it can also interfere with the normal functions of the cardiovascular and nervous systems. This may provoke abnormalities in a person's heart rhythms and other problems that can cause sudden cardiac death.
Obstructive sleep apnea is classified by severity: Severe obstructive sleep apnea means that your AHI is greater than 30 (more than 30 episodes per hour) Moderate obstructive sleep apnea means that your AHI is between 15 and 30. Mild obstructive sleep apnea means that your AHI is between 5 and 15.
In addition, your sleep apnea will change as the risk factors mentioned above change. For example, weight gain or getting older will worsen the condition, as will increased allergies in the spring, which will make nighttime breathing more difficult and exacerbate your symptoms.