Statistics have clearly shown that the lack of sleep can affect your emotional, mental, physical, and psychological well-being to the point where a sleep disorder treatment is often needed. Recently, clinical research has been trying to determine if there is a correlation or link between anxiety and sleep apnea. Initially, it’s difficult to see a relationship between the two disorders. Read on.
What is anxiety?
Basically, anxiety is the body’s way of dealing with stress by alerting you about any potential danger that you might encounter. What’s interesting is the fact that anxiety and sleep apnea are similar to a fish in water. In other words, if you find one, you’ll most likely find the other. Furthermore, with every year that passes, we’ve seen increasingly more studies that support the connection between these two disorders.
However, when anxiety becomes overwhelming, certain problems can arise and keep you from living normally. Uncontrolled emotions of stress and worry often result from a lack of sleep. As a result, it has been suggested that anxiety can not only be triggered by sleep apnea, it can actually make it worse. One of the reasons for this is that sleep apnea causes certain chemical reactions that cause depression and nervousness.
What is Sleep Apnea?
Sleep apnea has long been recognized as a potentially serious and dangerous sleep disorder in which a person’s breathing is intermittently interrupted or stopped completely and then starts again. If you’re partner complains about how loudly you snore and you still feel tired after sleeping through the night, you might be one of over 900 million sleep apnea sufferers in the world today. Three types of sleep apnea have been documented in research including:
- Central sleep apnea – typically results when your brain fails to send the right signals to those respiratory muscles that control your breathing
- Obstructive sleep apnea – OSA is the more common type that usually occurs when the muscles of the throat relax
- Complex sleep apnea syndrome – also referred to as “treatment-emergent central sleep apnea”, this disorder is a combination of OSA and central sleep apnea.
If you suspect that you or a loved one has sleep apnea, make an appointment with your doctor to evaluate your circumstances and determine whether sleep apnea treatments are what they recommend. Oftentimes, snoring is ignored as a harmless nuisance and the underlying health issues go ignored. It can cause a lot of health issues later on. That is why it is essential to get a proper diagnosis on the underlying health concerns.
What Causes Sleep Apnea?
Sleep apnea typically occurs when the muscles located at the back of the throat relax. The side walls of the throat, the soft palate, the tongue, the tonsils, and the uvula are all supported by these throat muscles. When those muscles relax, the airway narrows and sometimes closes as you inhale. Consequently, you’re unable to get enough air. That causes you to have innumerable interruptions all through the night when you wake up gasping for air with a choking sensation. This is one of the main causes of unrestful sleep, poor daytime alertness levels and mood swings, apart from cognitive issues later on.
When your brain senses that you’re not getting enough air, it briefly arouses you so that your airway reopens. This is typically a very brief awakening so you probably won’t be aware of it or remember it. Furthermore, you might choke, gasp, or snort. This pattern often repeats itself between 5 and 30 times (sometimes more) every hour throughout the night, thereby hindering your ability to fall into a deep, restful sleep.
Can Anxiety Cause Obstructive Sleep Apnea?
While we are fairly sure that anxiety is often caused by OSA, we can’t be 100% certain that anxiety may lead to obstructive sleep apnea. Most researchers agree that stress disturbs good sleep and eventually aggravates OSA. It’s still important to realize that even though anxiety and sleep apnea often go hand-in-hand, one is not necessarily the cause of the other. However, even the most basic correlation between the two will cause someone who is anxious to suffer from sleep deprivation. That can trigger mood swings and cognitive issues as restful sleep is essential for hormonal balance and cognitive functioning.
Can Sleep Apnea Cause Anxiety Attacks?
The question “Does sleep apnea cause anxiety?” is often a difficult one to answer. In a sleep apnea episode, your brain receives a “panic signal” which triggers the body to start breathing again. This prevents you from getting the deep, peaceful sleep that your body requires and can provoke an anxiety attack as a result. Thus, it is inter-related and is a vicious cycle that needs to be broken for you to get rest and proper sleep. By suing OTC snoring remedies, often mild and moderate cases of snoring are reduced considerably. When the body gets some rest, the mind relaxes and anxiety issues are reduced.
From a neurochemical perspective, sleep apnea can trigger an anxiety attack in another way. Sleep apnea episodes often lead to a condition called “sleep debt” which makes it difficult for your brain to cope with the stress that results. The more often this occurs, the stronger the adverse effect it has on your ability to concentrate and your mood.
Whether you’ve been diagnosed with OSA or not but your snoring is a problem, you should consider trying Asonor Anti-snoring Solution for snoring relief. Our anti snoring product has been clinically proven effective in 75% or 3 out of every 4 cases studied. As it is effective and is time tested, why not try our product today and see what getting a good night’s sleep is all about? For more information, contact Asonor at [email protected] or by clicking here. Our experts are available to assist you with information about our product and related information.