OSA is a chronic disease that involves repetitive pauses in breathing during sleep. These breathing pauses can prevent your body from supplying enough oxygen to the brain. In severe cases this lack of oxygen can lead to brain damage. Signs of this damage include memory problems, difficulty concentrating, and moodiness.
The good news is that studies show that treatment for sleep apnea can reverse the changes in the brain. Researchers have demonstrated that after a year of consistent treatment for sleep apnea, there is reversal of the changes to the brain.
Among the brain areas affected by sleep-disordered breathing are sites within the insula, anterior cingulate, and medial frontal cortices, hippocampus, fornix, mammillary bodies, amygdala and cerebellum.
If the sleep apnea is severe and untreated, people have three times the risk of dying from any cause. People with severe sleep apnea who spent less time in deep, also known as slow-wave sleep, had more damage to the white matter of the brain than people who had more slow-wave sleep, according to the study.
There is evidence that sleep apnea causes difficulty with cognitive functions, like memory, reasoning, reacting and controlling emotions. Recent research has also shown that it may actually change the shape of the brain.
Sleep apnea itself puts an individual at a high risk of suffering from some forms of neurological conditions, for instance if you suffer from stroke as a result of this condition your neurological system will be greatly affected.
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.
Can sleep apnea cause long-term memory loss? It can. Symptoms don't go away for 10% to 15% of people treated for sleep apnea. They have some type of long-term permanent symptoms.
The worse the obstructive sleep apnea, the greater the risk of coronary artery disease, heart attack, heart failure and stroke. Obstructive sleep apnea also increases the risk of heart rhythm problems known as arrhythmias. Arrhythmias can lower blood pressure.
Sleep Apnea and Brain Tissue Damage
Beyond memory problems, sleep apnea can also cause physical, measurable brain damage by starving your brain of oxygen.
Weight loss of just 10-15% can reduce the severity of OSA by 50% in moderately obese patients. Unfortunately, while weight loss can provide meaningful improvements in OSA, it usually does not lead to a complete cure, and many sleep apnea patients need additional therapies.
Permanent brain damage begins after only 4 minutes without oxygen, and death can occur as soon as 4 to 6 minutes later.
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.
May 11, 2023 – People with sleep apnea who spend less time in deep sleep are more likely to have brain health problems that could lead to dementia, Alzheimer's disease, or a stroke, a new study shows.
Untreated sleep apnea can put you at risk for numerous health problems, harming your short and long-term health. “People with sleep apnea are at increased risk of heart-related conditions,” says Adrian Pristas, M.D., pulmonologist and corporate medical director, Centers for Sleep Medicine at Hackensack Meridian Health.
A lack of oxygen also greatly increases your chances of suffering a heart attack, and nearly 80% of all nocturnal strokes can be directly attributed to OSA. If left untreated, obstructive sleep apnea can shorten your life from anywhere between 12-15 years.
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.
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.
Most likely, you can get this done one of two ways: through a home study or an in-lab test. In order to help you sleep better on the day of testing, remove yourself from CPAP three days prior. If the results come back that you no longer have sleep apnea, you can discontinue (with your doctor's permission) the CPAP.
Unfortunately, we can't really call sleep apnea treatments like positive airway pressure (PAP) or continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) sleep apnea cures. They usually work very well in eliminating sleep apnea symptoms, but they're a means of treating and living with the condition, not of getting rid of it.
Treating Neurologic Sleep Disorders
Treatment may include: Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) — A machine used to treat patients with obstructive sleep apnea. Cognitive behavioral therapy depending upon the sleep disorder. Medication.
Neurologists tend to provide treatment for sleeping disorders when the cause is thought to be neurological. Central sleep apnea, narcolepsy, insomnia, and restless legs syndrome can all be related to neurological issues and are best treated by a neurologist.
Over time, sleep apnea affects your mental health and therefore makes visible changes to your personality. These changes affect others and therefore may have a major impact on your emotional and social life. Underneath these personality changes, it's basically something blocking your airway when you are sleeping.
Psychological symptoms such as depression and anxiety are commonly reported in adults with OSA; however, the relationship between OSA and full psychiatric syndromes is less clear.