Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder that is characterized by the body pausing breathing during sleep, sometimes up to thirty times an hour. This pause then causes the person to suddenly snore, gasp, snort, or make another loud noise as the body begins breathing again. Not only can sleep apnea lead to a poor quality sleep, tiredness, fatigue, and poor concentration, but it can also contribute to heart health problems. Sleep apnea has a direct link to high blood pressure, which is linked to strokes, heart attacks, heart disease, and multiple kinds of irregular heartbeat problems. When the body stops breathing during sleep, it causes a drop in the heart rate. Then when your body starts to breathe again, it startles you and causes a rapid increase in heart rate. This up and down continues for up to 30 times an hour. In addition to this strain on the heart, sleep apnea can also lower the amount of oxygen in the blood, increase inflammation, and increase carbon dioxide levels, which are all detrimental to heart health. Over time, this constant overexertion of the heart can cause thickening of the heart walls, chronic high blood pressure, and stiffening of the heart. However, sleep apnea is an easily treated condition, so you should speak to your doctor if you think you have sleep apnea in order to prevent further damage to your heart.
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Key Points:
- 1Sleep apnea is an interruption in normal breathing patterns while sleeping, which results in the body not receiving enough oxygen.
- 2Snoring, choking, and gasping during sleep is often a sign of sleep apnea; as the body rouses itself enough to take a deeper breath to restore oxygen flow.
- 3Untreated sleep apnea causes serious medical stress upon a person, and can result in a number of significant health issues that.
See the original at: https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-disorders-problems-list/sleep-apnea-linked-heart-disease
