If you’ve been dealing with sleep apnea, you probably know the effect it has on your everyday life. Sleep apnea has a terrible impact both on your life and wellbeing. What’s more, sleep apnea seems to have a strong impact on your heart health, too. People who suffer from sleep deprivation are susceptible to developing heart disease. Thus, sleep apnea might cause many heart-related issues, such as heart arrhythmia, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and heart attack. Likewise, when a person is being treated for sleep apnea, their risk of heart-related disease and blood pressure drops.

More About Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder which causes breathing pauses or shallow breathing during sleep. The main type of sleep apnea is known as obstructive sleep apnea or OSA. This type of sleep apnea is usually caused when the upper respiratory airways are blocked. So, it happens that the throat muscles collapse and the tongue falls back into the airway. As a result, the air becomes cut off and the brain has to wake so that the respiratory system starts working again. This leads to disrupted sleep. Therefore, you don’t get the necessary rest.

There are three levels of obstructive sleep apnea and they depend on the number of sleep interruptions in the night, including mild obstructive sleep apnea, moderate obstructive sleep apnea, and severe obstructive sleep apnea.          

The Connection Between Sleep Apnea and Heart Rhythm

When a person is experiencing sleep apnea, the oxygen levels in the blood drop significantly. As a result, the brain wakes to send the necessary signals to the nervous system to tighten up the blood vessels. This is done in order to boost the flow of oxygen to the heart and brain. As a result of this process, the blood pressure increases, sometimes even 10-20% during sleep.

However, the high blood pressure persists to be high even when a person is awake. So, many people who deal with sleep apnea have to also deal with high blood pressure at all times. You probably already know that the major risk for heart-related disease is high blood pressure or hypertension. Hypertension might lead to stroke, heart disease, or heart attack. In fact, a person is more likely to develop any heart-related issues if suffering from sleep apnea.

Symptoms Which Will Show You That You Have a Problem

First and foremost, one of the major indicators that a person is suffering from sleep apnea is snoring. If you notice that someone is snoring heavily and even stops breathing for a while, they should see a doctor. Some of the most common symptoms which indicate that a person might be dealing with sleep apnea are:

• restless sleep;
• not being able to sleep continually;
• feeling an urge to urinate all the time;
• feeling sleepy throughout the day;
• difficulty concentrating;
• morning headaches;

What to Do When You Have Sleep Apnea

If you are wondering what to do about sleep apnea, you’re at the right place. It’s very important to have a treatment known as continuous positive airway pressure therapy or CPAP. This treatment is an exceptional way to treat sleep apnea and its symptoms. If you treat sleep apnea properly, you are also preventing other serious health problems, such as heart-related issues. The continuous positive airway pressure therapy will also reduce your blood pressure and keep it normal.

Likewise, you should be diagnosed by a sleep specialist. Diagnosing the disorder is the first step towards treating both sleep apnea or any related health issue. So, if you believe that you might have sleep apnea, don’t hesitate to consult your physician. Moreover, you can also do a home sleep test at VirtuOx. The home sleep testing helps you diagnose whether you have sleep apnea just by placing a sensor on your finger, nose and a small device on a belt around your chest.