Sleep Apnea:
An Eye-Opener for Sleep Health.

Sleep affects your health in both good ways and bad, depending on sleep duration and sleep quality.

A good night of adequate sleep leads to mental sharpness, better mood, improved heart health, greater athletic performance, steadier blood sugar, and other positive health benefits.

On the flip side, poor sleep or sleep loss has been linked to memory issues, difficulty concentrating, weakened immunity, high blood pressure, increased accident risk, and other negative health problems.

Being sleep deprived means you’re not getting the quality sleep your body needs to function, perform, and stay healthy.

Unfortunately, people with undiagnosed sleep apnea might not be aware they are sleep deprived.

Sleep apnea seriously disrupts the normal sleep pattern, or sleep cycle, which is crucial to rejuvenating the body and the brain.

Repeated apneas or disruptions deprive you of the most critical kind of sleep for recharging your batteries: deep sleep and REM sleep. This means not only feeling tired and groggy during the day, but can result in dangerous health conditions and seriously compromise your quality of life.

You could be sleep deprived if you have trouble concentrating, are overly sleepy, have unexplained mood changes, slowed thinking.

Going 24 hours without sleep can affect you similarly as having a blood alcohol content of 0.10 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Sleep deprivation impacts different people in different ways, but for most people, the effects of insufficient sleep set in as soon as the first day on limited sleep. Most people need between 6.5 and 8 hours of sleep. Any less can result in sleep deprivation.

A healthy adult should be sleeping anywhere from around 6.5 - 8 hours per night, and around 20% of that should be deep sleep, while around 25% should be REM sleep.

That’s because each sleep stage supports different functions of the body. While REM sleep restores the Central Nervous System, deep sleep helps repair and restore muscle.

Keep in mind, the quality in addition the quantity of deep sleep can impact your whole day.

According to the CDC, lack of sleep increases your blood pressure and causes your blood pressure to stay higher for longer.

That’s because while you sleep, your blood pressure normally goes down; but disruptions to your sleep rob you of this benefit.

Since high blood pressure is a leading cause of heart disease and stroke, it’s important to deal with disordered sleep as early as possible.

Five hours of sleep is unhealthy because it’s considered sleep deprivation.

Over time, most people who only sleep five hours a night start to experience negative health effects. For example, studies have shown that sleeping less than six hours a night is correlated to an increased risk of diabetes.

One of the most overlooked ways to improve sleep health is to practice good sleep hygiene, which can be easier said than done.

This means at least 30 minutes of physical activity per day. It’s sleeping in a dark and cool environment (65°F is ideal). It’s also important to stick to the same bedtime and wake up time every day, including weekends, to keep your circadian rhythm (internal clock) on track.

Also, electronic screens emit blue light that can overstimulate the brain right before bed. You should stop using your phone or TV at least one hour before bedtime to allow your brain to relax. Night mode can help too but staying off screens is best.

Lack of sleep leads to increased blood pressure and higher risk of diabetes and heart disease.

Plus, the non-physical effects like excessive tiredness lower your motivation to exercise, which can lead to higher risk of obesity.

Good sleep repairs both the mind and the body.

There are many causes of sleep disorders. They can be physical (ulcers or obesity), medical (asthma), psychological (anxiety), neurological (brain function causing central sleep apnea), genetic, or simply habit based (medications, night shift work, etc).

While sleep apnea can come with many health risks if left untreated, three important risk factors to note are increased blood pressure, increased risk of diabetes, and increased risk of heart disease.

Related to these is a higher likelihood of obesity, depression, anxiety, weakened immune system, and others.

Good sleep health has short and long-term benefits. Such as a healthy heart, regulated blood sugar, mental well-being, strong immune system, less stress and anxiety, healthy weight, and many more benefits.

Below are food and drinks that can make sleep apnea worse:

• Meats high in saturated fats: pork, bacon, sausage, burgers, etc.
• Alcohol beverages
• Dairy
• Bananas

Smoking can increase the severity of sleep apnea and you are at higher risk of developing obstructive sleep apnea when you smoke.

It is highly unlikely that breathing disruptions will kill you. However untreated sleep apnea can cause severe health problems, including heart issues, which can cause death.

Stress can’t cause sleep apnea directly, however it may worsen symptoms.