Weight Gain and Sleep Apnea
Many struggle with social stigmas of trying to be perfect. Looking to what other people look like, and criticizing their size and image. Every body is different and addressing unhealthy weight is a very difficult and sensitive subject. May struggling with unhealthy weight feel as though doctor’s are just going to be very judgmental and criticize their body. Some realize that unhealth weight can lead to serious health complications.
How does weight affect the way you sleep?
Many of those who suffer from snoring or poor sleep quality also struggle with weight. However, snoring and poor sleep can be a sign that there may be a more serious health concern at hand. Weight gain can cause other health conditions develop.
Excess weight can affect a person’s breathing due to the excess weight on a person’s neck. This is caused by deposits of pharyngeal fat putting additional pressure on a person’s airway. This can cause a dangerous issue when the airway is relaxed and there is additional weight on the airway causing it to collapse. The air is squeezed through the collapsed airway, causing a loud snore. If there is excess fat in the abdominal area, this can weigh heavily upon a person’s chest wall, which can cause a diminished lung volume. When there isn’t enough airflow through the lung’s capacity, the airway is more likely to have issues.
Sleep Apnea and it’s effects
Symptoms of Sleep apnea include snoring, high blood pressure, morning headaches, weight gain, gasping or choking for air, teeth grinding, exhaustion, depression, insomnia, decreased libido, enlarged neck size, cardiovascular disease, lung diseases, or difficulty concentrating.
Weight gain points to sleep apnea due to the constraints on the airway, ultimately leading to a collapsed airway. This makes it difficult to breathe due to the weight of the fatty deposits. This excess weight can cause the lung capacity to decrease, making it more difficult to breathe. Sleep apnea is often found to be apparent in those with a neck circumference of 16-17 inches. This causes a larger risk for sleep apnea and obesity.
Someone’s weight is not the only reason for struggling with sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is not caused by one thing in particular, for instance, someone can have sleep apnea due to their genetics, oversized organs such as the tongue or tonsils, breathing issues caused my high oral cavities, immune system deficiencies, misfires from the brain to the respiratory system, or other sleep disorders.
Obstructive sleep apnea is affected by a person’s Body Mass Index (BMI). The body mass index is based upon a person’s height and weight. If a person’s BMI is above 30, they are considered obese which could cause a person to have obstructive sleep apnea.
Use the tables below to calculate your very own Body Mass Index!
Health Effects of Sleep Apnea and Excess Weight
When the body doesn’t receive the necessary amount of sleep, many of those struggling can experience a large impact on their cardiovascular health, along with metabolic and pulmonary areas.
Obesity can also cause hypertension, or high blood pressure. High blood pressure is also caused by sleep apnea. Often times, those who struggle with excess weight will also struggle with sleep apnea, which can worsen each disorder. Some of the pathological processes (humoral, metabolic, and other abnormalities) can actually be contributed by sleep apnea instead of obesity. Obstructive sleep apnea and obesity are both important when talking about hypertension or more commonly known as high blood pressure. Both of them can cause high blood pressure, but when a person has both, their risks are greater. Nocturnal desaturation of oxygen is the same. Obesity and sleep apnea can cause and worsen desaturation of oxygen.
Some of the risks that can be caused by obesity are:
high blood pressure / hypertension
irregular heartbeat / atrial fibrillation
heart disease & heart failure
stroke
coronary heart disease
diabetes
metabolic syndrome (hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and dyslipidemia)
Sleep apnea found in overweight children
4% of children between the ages of 2-8 are found to experience sleep apnea. Many researchers are beginning to focus on childhood obesity, due to the increased risk of developing obstructive sleep apnea due to their excess weight. In many cases, obstructive sleep apnea is preventable and even cure in children if handled correctly while they are still young. Weight management is a great preventative measure for treatment for sleep apnea, along with continuous positive airway pressure therapy and possibly having their tonsils removed.
Addressing weight is difficult in the first place. Especially when it’s your own child. Many parents will blame it on a growth deficiency or brush it off and say that the child will grow into it. One in three children are affected by childhood obesity, but it’s now something that sticks with them even through the adult phase of life. Some of the children may already be over weight and experience symptoms of sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea on a developing brain, when left untreated, can lead to changes in metabolism, stress, and sleeping conditions/disorders. These changes can lead to food cravings, fatigue throughout the day, low energy, problems in their behavior, weight gain, and other developmental concerns.
Weight Loss for Obesity and Sleep Apnea
With all of the risks associated with obstructive sleep apnea, obesity can cause a lot of concern. The relation between obesity and sleep apnea is commonly related due to the excess weight on the airway. Weight loss is the best solution for decreasing the possibility of upper airway collapse. Weight loss will also promote better breathing control for those who struggle with weight.
Obstructive sleep apnea can progressively worsen when a person is also struggling with weight gain. It is shown that more than 20% of people that lost weight showed immediate improvement in the severity of their sleep apnea case. Weight loss can happen without (or before) surgery which is an activity and treatment that people struggling with health issues may want to consider the benefits of weight loss. Once the weight loss journey has reached a certain point, a common surgery for weight loss is bariatric surgery, which shows many improvements in health and lifestyle.
If you want to learn what the best health journey is for you, reach out to your doctor.
More Information
https://obesitymedicine.org/sleep-apnea-and-obesity/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3021364/
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-apnea/weight-loss-and-sleep-apnea
https://www.sleepapnea.org/weight-matters-obesity-and-sleep-apnea/
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/01.hyp.0000101686.98973.a3