For the estimated 25 million people in the U.S. who suffer from sleep apnea, poor sleep is a nightly occurrence. While the fogginess, headache, and daytime fatigue that follows a restless night is to be expected, there are other serious health risks that can accompany sleep apnea, particularly if left untreated. Slumber apnea and loftier blood pressure are ane of the most common links, affecting all systems of the body (including the middle). Hither'due south what you should know.

What does sleep apnea practise to your heart?

Sleep apnea puts incredible stress on the trunk, depriving it of oxygen for 10 to 20 seconds at a time, as many as xx times an hr, all night long.

When the brain is deprived of oxygen, the blood vessels answer dramatically.

  • Blood vessels constrict: This increases the menses of oxygen to the brain and center
  • Blood pressure increases: The body needs more oxygen, and the increased blood force per unit area helps to supply information technology

If these 2 things occurred merely during apneic episodes when breathing stopped, then the body might take few lasting effects. But the trunk does non stop reacting in this fashion when the sleeper wakes. The extra adrenaline released during the nighttime to stimulate animate continues to be released during the 24-hour interval. This adrenaline continues to bear on how the eye works.

The cardiovascular system remembers oxidative stress during the day and overcompensates. Every bit a upshot, inflammation in the body increases (measured by the presence of a C-reactive poly peptide), heart rate increases, and atrial walls thicken. Considering of this, people with sleep apnea have increased rates of atrial fibrillation and heart failure.

Whether sleepers have obstructive sleep apnea, fundamental sleep apnea, or complex sleep apnea, these symptoms are taxing to the body. Sleep apnea and blood pressure level are closely linked, and this can bear on the function of your heart.

Tin slumber apnea cause high blood force per unit area?

The link between sleep apnea and loftier blood force per unit area plays out in the heart but also stands on its own every bit a dangerous complication.

When we sleep, our blood pressure usually drops between ten and xx% of its daytime charge per unit. Not so for those who suffer from sleep apnea. The stress that occurs when the body is repeatedly deprived of oxygen at nighttime causes blood pressure to rise past every bit much equally 20% every night. Just similar the eye remembers the oxidative stress, so too, does the claret pressure. Even simply one apneic episode makes it harder for the torso to regulate blood pressure level.

An estimated 30 to 50% of people with loftier blood pressure also take slumber apnea. Slumber apnea is almost mutual in patients with resistant hypertension that has not responded to treatments.

Glen Foster, an assistant professor of wellness and do science and researcher on a report that further proved sleep apnea's furnishings on all of the body's systems, noted that:

"…[Our] report shows this condition has an impact on the cardiovascular organisation that can begin within a single solar day. After but six hours of fluctuating oxygen levels, similar to what happens with sleep apnea, the body'due south ability to regulate blood pressure is impaired. These changes occurred nearly immediately in healthy young adults who were non experiencing the cumulative effects years of sleep apnea could bring well-nigh."

In other words, sleep apnea and hypertension are linked from the very first night of poor sleep.

Fifty-fifty if the sleeper escapes the damaging effects of one dark of slumber apnea, sleep apnea and loftier blood pressure level are still likely. This may be related to the increased production of endothelin, a substance that causes the blood vessels to constrict. Over time, this increased production tin impairment blood vessels, resulting in hypertension and even stroke.

Hypertension does, in many cases, pb to stroke, and patients with slumber apnea have poor recovery outcomes and an increased take a chance of another stroke.

How tin treating sleep apnea lower my risk?

The skilful news is this: treating sleep apnea immediately lowers claret pressure level at night and decreases your chances of stroke and cardiovascular complications.

New guidelines to measure out high blood pressure, especially in the elderly, have increased the incidence of high blood force per unit area and formally recognized obstructive slumber apnea every bit a cause of secondary hypertension. These guidelines recommend more vigilance when information technology comes to slumber apnea screening for the elderly. They also recognize CPAP machines as a treatment for both sleep apnea and resistant hypertension.

Not treating sleep apnea can result in serious wellness risks. High blood pressure increases the risk of stroke, and the continual stress on the middle doubles the rate of AFIB. Patients with untreated sleep apnea are three times as likely to prematurely die than those with treated sleep apnea.

Diagnosing sleep apnea

So where does treatment of sleep apnea and high blood pressure begin? With a solid diagnosis. If you lot have any of the following symptoms of sleep apnea, a diagnostic polysomnography is your next step.

  • Daytime fatigue
  • Lack of mental clarity
  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Headache
  • Dry mouth in the morning
  • Snoring

A unproblematic sleep report will mensurate the number of apneas (pauses in breathing) you experience per 60 minutes and their duration, resulting in an AHI (apnea hypopnea index) score. These scores range as follows:

  • V to fifteen pauses: Mild sleep apnea
  • xv to 30 pauses: Moderate sleep apnea
  • xxx or more pauses: Severe sleep apnea

Slumber apnea treatments

Once you have your diagnosis, your physician or sleep apnea dentist may recommend starting with lifestyle changes in conjunction with other treatments. Managing weight, adding practice, quitting smoking, and eating salubrious are all treatments for sleep apnea and high claret pressure.

In addition, your doctor may recommend a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure level) machine to continue your airway open at dark. This machine uses a mask fitted over your mouth and nose to evangelize pressurized air all nighttime long.

For sleepers who cannot comply with a CPAP car due to the discomfort of the mask or noise of the auto, a slumber apnea dental device can exist a literal lifesaver.

Custom-fitted past your dentist, this device gently holds your jaw open and positions your tongue away from the airway. While CPAP machines are the gold standard of slumber apnea handling, they lose their benefits if patients don't use them consistently. On the other hand, sleep apnea dental devices are small, serenity, comfortable, and convenient.

A sleep apnea dentist can help manage your symptoms of sleep apnea in order to improve your blood pressure. Arrive bear upon today to discover out how our sleep apnea dentists at AZ Dentist tin aid you lot!