Health Problems With Sleep Apnea Can Be Serious

Health Problems With Sleep Apnea Can Be Serious

 Sleep apnea is much more serious than many realize. Health problems with sleep apnea can affect vital bodily functions, including heart attack, heart failure, high blood pressure, and a host of other problems. Don't ignore sleep apnea - it can cost you your life. Efforts to find out what causes sleep apnea have been intense, and although the actual cause may not have been identified, researchers have found that the health problems of sleep apnea can be serious. There are several major risk factors for heart disease, such as obesity, alcohol abuse, and smoking, but you may be surprised to learn that sleep apnea is also a major risk factor. Combine any of these factors and your risk of serious sleep apnea health problems doubles. For example, if you are obese and suffer from sleep apnea, your risk of heart problems increases. If your sleep apnea is treated with a sleep apnea device like CPAP, you reduce or even eliminate your risks. However, if you don't seek treatment when your breathing stops during an apnea attack, carbon dioxide levels in your blood will rise while oxygen levels drop. This effect causes various chemical and physical events that can increase your risk of heart problems. Health problems with sleep apnea increase the longer the apnea remains untreated. Sleep apnea will lower levels of nitric oxide gas in the blood, which is an important substance for heart health. Reduced levels increase the risk of heart problems. Apnea also increases angiotensin-converting enzyme, which plays a role in congestive heart failure and high blood pressure. High levels of this enzyme make your sleep apnea health problems worse. Other chemical changes involved also increase the risk of heart problems. Much research is still needed to define how all these changes affect the heart and how severe the impact is on your heart health. With treatments available, why take the risk?  Studies have shown a direct link to the following health problems of sleep apnea. If you suffer from sleep apnea, consider these risks if you decide to ignore the use of any sleep apnea device. High blood pressure – Several studies have correlated sleep apnea with high blood pressure. A 2004 study on the health problems of sleep apnea found that the more episodes of sleep apnea you had in the first year, the more likely you were to have high blood pressure in the fourth year. Blood pressure will fluctuate widely in response to an apneic episode. These fluctuations may be the result of a sudden increase in the sympathetic nervous system. It is these fluctuations that lead to constriction of blood vessels and over time this leads to high blood pressure and the possibility of heart damage. An effective treatment for sleep apnea, such as a CPAP device, allows your airways to stay open, which means your blood pressure will be lowered. Only a partial reduction of sleep apnea has no positive effect. It must be a significant reduction. Of the many health problems of sleep apnea, the two most serious are coronary artery disease and heart attack. Studies have confirmed that the more episodes of apnea you have, the higher your risk of heart attack, stroke, and coronary artery disease. This is especially true in older adults. Still, want to ignore treatments like CPAP? If you have sleep apnea, you double your risk of stroke. The worse the episodes, the more at risk you are. Severe sleep apnea can triple your risk of stroke. And stroke patients with sleep apnea have worse symptoms, such as poor speech response, depression, delirium, and difficulty with daily activities. Another good reason to use a sleep apnea device is to reduce the risk of developing sleep apnea health problems. 37% of all heart failure patients had sleep apnea, and if you have congestive heart failure with sleep apnea, your risk of death increases.