Health Span Affected by Sleep Apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea has become a more common disorder. The condition is characterized by changes and interruptions in a patient’s normal breathing pattern during sleep. Their breath will change, even sometimes stopping entirely. When this occurs, the body will rouse itself sufficiently to draw a deeper breath and resume a more normal breathing pattern. The result of obstructive sleep apnea is patients have significantly worsened ability to sleep normally, which affects both mental and physical health in very serious ways.

Two of the primary risk factors with OSA are old age and obesity, and these factors are also on the rise. This also works against such patients, because those same factors also increase risk for the same cardiovascular and neurodegenerative issues that OSA will affect. Acting as an overall magnification of the potential health issues someone may develop.

Some research into these types of diseases has turned to focusing on OSA as a possible treatment avenue to include overall patient quality of life, as well as offering doctors a direct method of reducing these health risks. Some of the diseases and medical issues that can be addressed by focusing on eliminating any patient’s OSA include diseases medicine is still unable to effectively cure; such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Other physical aliments like type 2 diabetes and liver problems can be prevented by treating the patient’s OSA.

Key Points:

  • 1Over the last 20 years, sleep apnea diagnoses have increased.
  • 2Authors propose researching the field and link between age-related disease and obstructive sleep apnea.
  • 3Cavadas and her team are working on identifying biomarkers that will help diagnose sleep apnea.


The first line of treatment for OSA is the continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine, which delivers pressured air through a face mask into the airway to help keep them open throughout the night.
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Written by HealthStatus
Medical Writer & Editor

HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our health risk assessment, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years.

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