sleep apnea

sleep apnea

sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder in which breathing pauses and resumes while one is sleeping. There are three types of sleep apnea, and they include; obstructive sleep apnea, central sleep apnea, and complex sleep apnea syndrome. Obstructive sleep apnea is more common and happens when the muscles of the throat relax. Central sleep apnea occurs when the brain doesn’t send the right messages or signals to the muscles that control breathing. Complex sleep apnea syndrome happens when one has both obstructive sleep apnea and complex sleep apnea. The most common signs and symptoms for sleep apnea include; loud snoring while sleeping, episodes when one stops sleeping, gasping for air, and awakening with a dry mouth. Headaches in the morning, insomnia, feeling excessively sleepy during the day, and increased irritability are signs and symptoms of sleep apnea. Some of the risk factors associated with sleep apnea are being overweight, neck circumference, where people with thick necks are likely to have narrower airways and family history of the condition. Males are more susceptible to sleep apnea as opposed to females, congestion of the nasal cavity, the elderly are likely to have the sleeping disorder, and lifestyle activities such as smoking increase one’s chances of developing sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea and hypertension

Sleep apnea has a severe impact on the body, consequently affecting peoples’ daily life. Studies have revealed a relationship between increased blood pressure and increased cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. Other studies have gone ahead to show the relationship between blood pressure in ambulatory state and nocturnal state. Elevated blood pressure has been recorded for patients with obstructed sleep apnea. The prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea as well as obesity continuous to go up in developed states. Non-communicable diseases such as high blood pressure seem to preclude other conditions. The relationship between various conditions need to be studied further, and interventions implemented to reduce incidences. Obstructive sleep apnea is estimated to affect an average of 25% males and 23% of females. The age most affected is between 30 to 70 years. Hypertension is also common affecting 26% of the adult population (Ahmad, 2017). Evidence suggests a casual bidirectional relationship between obstructive sleep apnea and hypertension.

Obstructive predisposes people to hypertension more so there is an increased incidence of patients with hypertension that have obstructive sleep apnea. Various studies have demonstrated the association of sleep apnea and hypertension while independently isolating factors such as age, weight, and other confounding factors. Research has led to sleep apnea being identified as a common cause of secondary hypertension. Sex influences the development of sleep apnea as it affects more males than females (Ahmad, 2017). The reason for male predominance can be attributed to factors such as fat distribution, upper airway anatomy, configuration and alignment of craniofacial part of face and variations of the hormones in the two sexes.

The presentation of sleep apnea among the two sexes is also different, leading to misdiagnoses among women.

Difficulties in breathing can result in hypoxia, which consequently increased ambulatory blood pressure after a night of sleep apnea and into weeks that followed the episode. Sleep apnea affects the pressure and blood surges, causing hypertrophy and atrial remodeling, which increases heart failure and arrhythmias. Hypoxemia also results in oxidation stress to the body, which leads to the release of biological chemicals in the body to remedy the situation; the effect is endothelial damage.

Continuous positive airway pressure, oral appliances, and surgery can be used to treat sleep apnea and the effects it has to blood pressure. Lifestyle changes should also be incorporated tenure; the patient manages the risk factors causing them to develop obstructive sleep apnea. Sleep apnea hinders the flow of oxygen in the body, which makes it hard for the brain to control the flow of oxygen in the blood.

Sleep apnea and diabetes

Sleep apnea is associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome, which is also associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Obstructive sleeping apnea and type 2 diabetes mellitus have a pathophysiological link with the development of resistance to insulin. Individuals who suffer from insulin resistance will suffer from inadequate glycemic control. Poorly controlled type 2 diabetes is associated with the complication of microvascular organs such as a coronary artery, retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy. Obesity, males, and age are risk factors for obstructed sleep apnea (Doumit, 2016). These factors are also associated with increased susceptibility to developing type 2 diabetes Meletus. Obstructed sleep apnea is known to induce a severe state of resistance to insulin. Insulin resistance is also a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, even when one doesn’t suffer from type 2 diabetes mellitus. When sleep apnea creates insulin resistance, one requires high doses of insulin to control their blood sugar.

The mechanisms of how the two variables are related can be explained in two ways; hypoxia and sleep fragmentation. Hypoxia leads to an increase in epinephrine levels that result in a rise in hepatic gluconeogenesis and a decrease in muscle uptake of glucose hence hyperglycemia. Sleep-disordered breathing triggers a lot of markers in the body that lead to insulin resistance, thus the development of diabetes. Sleep interruption further reduces sensitivity to insulin and impairs the metabolism of glucose in the body. Hyperglycemia induced by fragmentation of sleep and reduced sensitivity to insulin are mediated by alterations in sympathovagal balance hence increasing the sympathetic nervous system during sleep and while awake. Studies show women have more problems with insulin sensitivity, and women with sleep apnea were receiving more doses of insulin that women who had sleep apnea and didn’t have sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea and diabetes mellitus are increasing in their prevalence in the world. With the rising incidences of diabetes and sleep apnea, many people are affected.

Sleep apnea and weight gain and obesity

Obesity is a risk factor for obstructed sleep apnea. People with obstructed apnea have an increased chance of developing sleep apnea while losing weight can lead to a reduction in weight would reduce the severity of sleep apnea. Managing weight can improve people’s sleeping patterns. Gaining weight is a lifestyle habit that is established over time, such as sleeping patterns, consumption of calories to alcohol, and genetics, among others. People with short sleeping durations and are overweight are more susceptible to depression, among other mental disorders. Reduced sleeping hours, as a result, impact the hormonal balance in the body. Decrease in hormones such as melatonin leads to alterations in the metabolic rhythm, making one susceptible to gaining weight and metabolic syndrome. Other changes happen to other hormones, such as leptin and insulin. Obese people further develop resistance to these hormones. Leptin and insulin reduce the body’s need for food and increase metabolism. A hormone released by the stomach to trigger appetite is also affected by sleep patterns. People with short sleeping hours have been noted to have high levels of ghrelin and low levels of leptin, all of which influence food consumption. These adjusted hormonal levels consequently predispose one to obesity because they regulate food intake (Jehan,2018). Poor sleep and excessive use of calories predispose one to obesity more, so these factors are risk factors for other noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes, among other metabolic syndromes.

Sleep apnea and asthma

Obstructive sleep apnea and asthma are related and influence each other. According to the center for disease control,5% of the American population suffers from asthma. Asthma is a respiratory medical condition that restricts the flow of air into the lungs and causes inflammation of the airway. Obstructive sleep apnea is characterized by breathing difficulties that set off a chain reaction to the body(Damianaki, 2019). The mechanisms that link the two variables include local and systemic actions that lead to constricting of airways, inflammation, and sleep apnea induced cardiac dysfunction. Irregular breathing for people with sleep apnea triggers the airways restricting the flow of air into the lungs, causing further challenges.

Sleep apnea and acid reflux

Acid reflux and obstructive sleep apnea share similar risk factors and maybe casually linked. Gastroesophageal reflux disease is prevalent among the American population. A relationship has been found between the two variables. People with hurt burn and gastric problems suffer from sleeping disturbances hence have poor quality sleep patterns. Gastroesophageal reflux may cause obstructed sleep apnea by causing obstruction and inflammation of the upper airway (Shepherd, 2016). On the other hand, Gastroesophageal reflux disease can lead to sleep apnea because of intrathoracic pressure. Gastroesophageal reflux disease can lead to poor quality sleep among people.

Sleep apnea and road safety

Sleep apnea causes increased day sleeping and increases the risk of road accidents for those people driving. Excessive day sleeping has been associated with increased risk of motor vehicle accidents and high mortality from road accidents. Poor quality sleep contributes to fatigue, causing people to perform poorly in their activities and work. Due to the increasing number of road accidents and the need to improve road safety, all the possible causes are being addressed and intervention measures being developed (Bonsignore, 2017). Sleep apnea is one of the contributors to road carnage; it should be controlled to reduce mortality and morbidity. Some of the prevention measures to be put in place would be control of the licensing process by ensuring that people who suffer from sleep apnea are identified and regulations introduced to prevent road carnage.

Sleep apnea and quality of life

Sleep apnea has an impact on one’s physical and mental function, more so the quality of life. Quality of life represents the functional effect caused by an illness and the subsequent therapy given to a patient to help them cope. Lack of quality sleep can influence people’s mental health, consequently resulting in depression, increased irritability, impaired cognition, mood disorders, and memory loss, among others. All these effects affect family, professional, and social life, thus increasing the risk of accidents occurring at home or the workplace (coman, 2016). Mental health issues influence people’s lives, and they are currently on the rise creating the need to address the problem and avoid adverse outcomes such as suicide and depression. Poor quality sleep and constant irritability can reduce the quality of life leading to morbidity and mortality. Therapy can be initiated to ensure that poor quality sleep doesn’t affect the quality of life for people suffering from sleep apnea.

Other effects

Obstructive sleep apnea affects relationships and friendships.

People with minimal sleep time may develop depression, which makes it hard to develop and maintain relationships. People with depression are unlikely to engage in social activities. Sleeping in adulthood is mostly in pairs; as such, people who can’t have a peaceful sleep may result in sleeping in separate beds or rooms from their spouses. Different places could negatively affect spousal relationships.

Obstructed sleep apnea has a more significant impact on healthcare costs. For people with sleep apnea, there will be frequent hospital visits hence accumulating health costs and hospitalization time. Regular hospital visits may be frustrating to the patients leading to further mental issues. Successful treatment alternatives can reduce the treatment costs and rates more so patient’s satisfaction would be helpful to the patients in their recovery. High medical costs may hinder people from seeking medical care, further making their health situation worse, and due to the ripple effect, their actions have, many people could get hurt. Overweight and obesity have led to an increased prevalence of non- alcoholic fatty liver disease (Parikh, 2019). A study among the Taiwan population identified that sleep apnea as an independent predictor of incident liver disease. Intermittent hypoxia is a trigger for metabolic alterations that influence the liver functions after an episode of sleeping apnea (Petta, 2015).

In conclusion, sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder that causes one to stop breathing in their sleep—the failure to breathe causes many health problems in the body. Sleep apnea is a risk factor for cardiovascular conditions, hypertension, diabetes, asthma, obesity, and mental issues such as depression. Poor quality sleep negatively impacts social relationships. Sleep apnea affects the liver. Frequent hospital visits that result in high medical expenditures can be traced to conditions related to sleep apnea. Road safety is also influenced by lack of sleep, which translates to fatigue hence poor handling of machines, equipment, and cars. Some of the treatment and management options include therapy and people getting involved in an active lifestyle to ease the risk factors and lead an active lifestyle that would help prevent and manage the causative factors. The condition, if left untreated, can have adverse effects on the victims, but if treatment and management are introduced early, it can help improve the quality of life for the patients. The patients can lead a high- quality life that ensures they live to reach their potential.