3 Ways Sleep Apnea in Jupiter Can Seriously Ruin Your Health

When talking about sleep apnea, most of the focus is usually on how tired it can make a person feel day in and day out because they basically aren’t breathing every time they go to bed. However, sleep apnea can actually affect much more than someone’s energy level. It can negatively impact a person’s health from head to toe, drastically lowering their quality of life in the process. For people with untreated sleep apnea, being tired should be the least of their worries! Here are the 3 greatest health risks for people with sleep apnea in Jupiter.

1. Cardiovascular Problems

When someone experiences a stoppage in breathing during the night due to sleep apnea, the body quickly goes into panic mode. For one, it partially wakes up in order to restore normal respiration, and this interrupts the sleep cycle, preventing someone from getting the deep, restful sleep they need to feel awake and focused the next day. But this isn’t the only thing that happens.

The heart also starts to work tremendously hard to move the limited amount of oxygenated blood throughout the body, and as a result, blood pressure skyrockets. This increase doesn’t just go away once someone is breathing normally—it can stick around for several hours, even after a person has woken up. High blood pressure is the #1 risk factor for conditions like heart attack and stroke, and according to the American Sleep Apnea Association, around 35,000 cardiovascular-related deaths every year can be directly tied to sleep apnea.

2. Depression

The importance of mental health has recently received a surge of attention, with cases of anxiety and depression greatly increasing every year. One of the most common symptoms of sleep apnea is sleep deprivation, and sleep deprivation often leads to depression. The body and brain simply become worn down, making someone unable to bounce back from negative thoughts or events in their life. This leads many to treat their depression with medication, but without addressing the underlying sleep issue, it won’t provide long-term relief, causing even more frustration and hopelessness.  

3. Excessive Weight Gain

You have two hormones in your body that help regulate your hunger. Ghrelin is primarily produced in your stomach, and it lets you know when you are hungry. As you’re eating, your body then starts to make leptin, which tells you that you’re getting full.

Sleep deprivation can actually cause an excess of ghrelin as well as a deficit of leptin, leading someone to feel extremely hungry and have a difficult time becoming full. This leads many to eat hundreds of extra calories every day, which can quickly cause them to pack on the pounds. Excess weight is a huge risk factor for a wide variety of health issues, and it’s even the #1 preventable cause of obstructive sleep apnea.

How to Get Help

Millions of Americans struggling with these issues have noclue that the root cause is actually sleep apnea– about 80% of people with thedisorder are either misdiagnosed or undiagnosed. If you’re dealing with anyof these problems and always feeltired throughout the day despite how much you sleep, then you should definitelytalk to your doctor about it. Sleep apnea is very treatable these days, and bygetting your sleep in check, you can quickly make these health issues mucheasier to manage or get rid of themaltogether. A full night’s rest might be all you need to get back to feelinglike yourself again.

About the Author

Dr. Kenneth Mogell has been helping people overcome obstructive sleep apnea in Jupiter for more than 30 years. In that time, he’s helped patients get off of blood pressure medication, stop taking anti-depressants, and lose hundreds of pounds easily, all because the real problem was taken care of. To learn more about how sleep apnea could be impacting your overall health and how you can stop it, Dr. Mogell can be contacted through his website.