Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common, but often undetected, sleep breathing disorder that can have a number of effects on your daily life. When you have OSA, oral and throat tissues continuously block your airway as you sleep, causing you to repeatedly stop breathing throughout the night. After a moment, your brain and body are forced to wake up just enough to start breathing again, though not usually enough to wake you from consciousness. This means you can believe that you’re sleeping soundly throughout the night even though your brain and body never get the rest they need. Besides making you increasingly more tired every day, untreated sleep apnea can also become a serious risk to your systemic health in a number of different ways.
Sleep Apnea and Your Health
- Cardiovascular disease – OSA is typically marked by periods of increasingly loud snoring as your airway closes, then silences as it closes completely. As you snore, your body has to work harder to get oxygen into your blood, taxing your cardiovascular system. Over time, this can increase your risks of issues like heart disease, stroke, and heart failure.
- Mental health concerns – REM (rapid eye movement) is the most essential part of your sleep cycle. The deep sleep is necessary for your brain and body to recuperate from stress and repair damaged tissue cells. OSA prevents you from entering REM sleep, and the deprivation can lead to dramatic mood swings, depression, anger, and more.
- Complications with medical treatment – Because OSA prevents your body from resting properly, it can affect your body’s ability to recuperate after recovering from disease, medical treatment, or surgery. In addition to heightened risks of systemic health issues, this also heightens your risks of complications with treatment for such issues.
Lower Certain Health Risks with Sleep Apnea Treatment
By effectively treating obstructive sleep apnea, you can lower your risks of health concerns that are associated with the disorder. To learn more, call Houston Sleep Solutions in Spring, TX, at (281) 320-2000, or in Pearland, TX, at (832) 564-3508.