Heart Health & Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea occurs when the structural breathing muscles relax temporarily relax, blocking the airways, causing an interruption in the breathing patterns. When breathing continues, the person will gasp, which can make the heart work harder. This can happen hundreds of times every night. Sleep apnea can cause a rise in blood pressure, which causes the heart more stress and increase blood sugar. If Cardiovascular disease is already present, sleep apnea can worsen the heart disease or condition.
Men and women suffer from sleep apnea. The most common form of sleep apnea is Obstructive sleep apnea. There is an estimate of 80% of those with sleep apnea are not diagnosed and are currently just normalizing the symptoms they are experiencing. Ultimately, common indicators are ignored such as snoring, daytime fatigue, chronic headaches, issues with concentration or memory, high blood pressure, and interrupted rest. Untreated sleep apnea has a risk of damaging not only the heart, but the entire cardiovascular system.
Heart disease is the number one leading cause of death in the world. Unhealthy eating, lack of exercise, overuse of alcohol, and smoking can increase the opportunity of a heart condition. With conditions of the heart, many people can experience high blood pressure, dangerous cholesterol levels, diabetes, and obesity. With untreated sleep apnea, there is a huge increase of heart health risk - 140%! That’s a lot.
Treatment for sleep apnea in those that have risk of obtaining a cardiovascular disease strengthens their life span increasingly. Many of the people who have researched the impacts that sleep apnea has on heart health have noticed that by receiving continuous positive airway pressure treatment (CPAP Therapy), the CPAP allows the body to heal and repair the damage that was done while the apneas were untreated.
The changes in blood vessel walls and metabolism take years to evolve, so researchers also expect that it takes time for the benefits of CPAP therapy to make their mark as well. Untreated sleep apnea can result in poor sleep quality and daytime fatigue, which can lead to health issues pertaining to cardiovascular health. Almost half of the patients tested for sleep apnea also showed in reports to have cardiovascular health issues in addition. Those who have researched untreated sleep apnea beside heart disease show that the possibility of death can be up to five times more than those without sleep apnea.
“Sleep apnea is not the only factor that can cause high blood pressure, but that is one of them. When you have sleep apnea, with every apnea episode you may have there is a short term increase in blood pressure. And the longer the apnea, the more severe the increase.” - www.sleepdr.com
What kinds of cardiovascular problems can I get with OSA?
Several heart-related conditions can occur without therapy or treatment for sleep apnea. A person is 50% more likely to have high blood pressure, 25% more likely to experience atrial fibrillation (irregular heart beat), coronary heart disease (arteries hardening), and heart failure.
High Blood Pressure is when the pressure of blood is forced against the walls of your blood vessels. This causes the heart and arteries along with the heartbeat to ultimately find your blood pressure. Some side effects of having heightened blood pressure can result in stroke, loss of vision, heart failure, kidney failure/disease, sexual dysfunction, and heart attack. Over time, your blood vessels can actually become more delicate which in return will make the arteries more delicate, allowing plaque and cholesterol to build up, rising the chances of arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat), heart attack, and stroke.
Irregular Heartbeat / Arrhythmia is when the beat of the heart is uneven or out of rhythm. This can make it feel as though your heart skipped a beat, flutters, is beating too fast or too slow. Some common symptoms are palpitations of the heart, pounding feeling, dizziness, tightness of the chest, fatigue, sweating, or anxiety. Causes of an irregular heartbeat could be caused by heart disease, imbalance of sodium or potassium, heart injuries, healing post-operation, or other substances such as medication, alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, or exercise.
Coronary Heart Disease is a disease of the heart when the arteries of the heart does not give enough blood with oxygen to the heart. Coronary hear disease is often caused by plaque building up on the inner lining of coronary arteries. The build up of plaque can cause serious issues when it begins to block the flow of blood through the larger arteries. Symptoms of coronary heart disease is different for everyone, but common symptoms are tightness of the chest, pain in the chest, heart attacks, or cardiac arrest. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, please reach out to your doctor or a medical professional to be in good health. Doctors may recommend that changes in life need to occur to relieve the patient of symptoms, and stop the issue before becoming a serious health condition. They may recommend healthy lifestyle changes, prescribe medication, surgery or operations, or may recommend a combination of one or more of the previously states changes to treat and prevent the health condition so that it does not become a complication of your health.
Heart Failure, or occasionally known as congestive heart failure, is the failure of the heart muscle not pumping blood as well as it should. This can be caused by the narrowing of heart arteries, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, or other heart health conditions. This can stiffen your heart and weaken your heart over time, so the heart does not pump blood as efficiently as it should. Some heart conditions can be prevented, but others cannot nor can they be reversed. Doctors may recommend lifestyle changes such as sodium reduced diets, exercising, weight loss, and managing stress. Heart failure is commonly seen in patients that experience obesity, hypertension, coronary artery disease, and diabetes. Some symptoms of heart failure include fatigue, swelling of ankles and feet, irritability, chest pain, heart attacks, difficulty concentrating or focusing, shortness of breath, inability to exercise, coughing white or pink tinged phlegm, frequent urination at night, rapid weight gain caused by fluid retention, or lack of appetite. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, please reach out to your doctor or a medical professional. Some of the previously stated symptoms may be caused by another health condition.
How Can I Prevent Heart Complications?
Talking to your doctor is the best option to see what preventative measures can be taken. Your medical provider will be able to institute a unique health improvement journey to best suit you and the symptoms that you are experiencing. Some things that you can begin putting into action is exercising, healthy eating, getting enough sleep at night, or other healthy lifestyle changes.
More Information
Heart Disease & Sleep Apnea - www.sleepfoundation.org
Heart Conditions - www.health.harvard.edu
Sleep Apnea’s Affect on the Heart - www.sleepdr.com
Sleep Apnea & Heart Disease - wexnermedical.osu.edu
Heart Health - www.heart.org
High Blood Pressure - www.heart.org
Irregular Heartbeat/Arrhythmia - www.webmd.com
Coronary Heart Disease - nhlbi.nih.gov
Heart Failure - www.mayoclinic.org
Documents
Obstructive Sleep Apnea & Heart Disease - www.thoracic.org