YES! Diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, obesity, impotence, depression, anxiety, memory loss, attention deficit disorder, acid reflux disease, and other conditions can be caused by sleep apnea.

Most commonly people with sleep apnea just don’t get a restful night’s sleep and end up feeling very tired during the day. Every time there is a significant night time apneic event (breathing pause), and the oxygen in the blood and brain starts to drop, sleep is interrupted. Repeated events prevent the sufferers from ever obtaining deep and restful sleep. The result is excessive daytime sleepiness which can be associated with headaches either during the day or night, feeling depressed and anxious, finding it difficult to concentrate on tasks during the day, and falling asleep very easily especially during the day. Sleep apnea is a significant cause of motor vehicle accidents and other work related accidents. It is also responsible for lost productivity in both blue collar and white collar jobs.

In children, sleep apnea is associated with hyperactivity (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or: ADHD). It is also associated with failure to thrive (children that grow slowly and have difficulty gaining weight), bed wetting and poor school performance.

HOW DOES SLEEP APNEA CAUSE ALL THESE PROBLEMS?

The intermittent lack of air in the lungs and decreased oxygen in the blood and brain causes repeated stress reactions during the night. These stress reactions cause blood pressure to increase, and also cause many other chemical and hormonal imbalances. If sleep apnea is not properly diagnosed and corrected, these imbalances can lead to heart disease, disease in the small blood vessels in the body which can cause impotence, stroke, and diabetes. The association between Obstructive Sleep Apnea and conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure is so strong that many medical associations currently recommend that patients with diabetes or high blood pressure be checked for sleep apnea. Conversely, patients who have sleep apnea should be screened for diabetes and have regular blood pressure checks. Treating sleep apnea can lead to better control of the diabetes and blood pressure.

In children with sleep apnea, hyperactivity can be caused by chronic sleep deprivation. The failure to thrive are caused by a decrease in growth hormone levels. This hormone is produced during deep sleep – which children with severe sleep apnea rarely obtain. Bedwetting is associated with the other chemical and hormonal imbalances in the blood caused by sleep apnea. Proper diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea can reverse these problems in many cases.

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