With sleep disorders impacting approximately 50-70 million individuals in the United States; these serious health conditions can have drastic and serious effects on your health. For those with sleep apnea, a sleep disorder characterized by pauses or interruptions in your breathing as you sleep, a common question that pops up is can sleep apnea kill you? The answer is yes, as it can lead to low oxygen levels in your blood, increased blood pressure, increased risk of heart disease, sudden cardiac death, and stroke, and is life-threatening if left untreated. In addition to this, sleep apnea can impair your cognitive function, mood, and quality of life, making it so much more than a simple snore that should not be ignored or dismissed. In this overview, we’ll take a look at the severity of the condition in full, including how it is classified, signs to watch for, what the short and long-term risks are, and what diagnosis and treatment look like. If you or someone you know suspects sleep apnea, read on to learn more about why you should seek a diagnosis and treatment today.
How Is Sleep Apnea Classified?
To determine at what severity level your sleep apnea sits, you need to look at the number of breathing pauses or interruptions you have on a per-hour basis. This is known as the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), which is calculated by dividing the number of apnea and hypopnea episodes you have by the number of hours of sleep. There are 4 levels of classification:
- Minimal sleep apnea has an AHI of 5 or fewer events/hour of sleep.
- Mild sleep apnea has an AHI Of 5–14 events/hour of sleep.
- Moderate sleep apnea has an AHI of 15–29 events/hour of sleep.
- Severe sleep apnea has an AHI of 30+ events/hour of sleep.
In addition to your sleep being interrupted by these events (micro-awakenings/microarousals), your body has to work harder to maintain sufficient oxygen levels. This can put a strain on your cardiovascular system, leading to an increased risk of heart attack, heart failure, and stroke. Additionally, chronic sleep deprivation has been linked to a weakened immune system, making you more vulnerable to illnesses and infections. It can also affect your mental health, leading to mood disorders like depression and anxiety, and cognitive impairments such as memory loss and difficulty concentrating.
Can Sleep Apnea Kill You: What Happens During An Episode?
If you’re wondering if sleep apnea can kill you, the answer is yes, it is life-threatening if it goes untreated. During an episode of sleep apnea, either the muscles in the back of your throat fail to keep the airway open or your brain fails to send proper signals to the muscles that control breathing. This results in a temporary pause in breathing that can last anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes, which subsequently drops your oxygen levels. The brain senses the drop in oxygen levels and sends a signal to wake the individual up, often with a gasp or snort (microarousals). This cycle can repeat multiple times throughout the night, leading to poor sleep quality and daytime fatigue.
When your body becomes deprived of the oxygen it needs, this leads to a significant strain on your cardiovascular system, as your heart must work harder to pump oxygen through your body. This, in turn, can put you at risk for developing heart disease, heart attacks, and stroke. In addition to this, if at any time during one of these events, your oxygen levels fall below a certain threshold, you’ll experience hypoxemia, which is a life-threatening complication of sleep apnea that causes symptoms like headaches, difficulty breathing, bluish skin, and rapid heart rates. But, we’ll cover more about the short-term and long-term risks further down below in the “Sleep Apnea & Its Impact on Your Health” section.
Investigating the Causes: Is Sleep Apnea Genetic?
If you’re wondering if sleep apnea is genetic, the answer to this is that genetics do play a role in obstructive sleep apnea, which is the type of sleep apnea in which the airway becomes blocked by excess tissue or abnormal anatomy during sleep, but not in central sleep apnea, where the brain fails to transmit the signals to the breathing muscles. While it’s unclear how obstructive sleep apnea gets passed down genetically, research has revealed that genes play a significant role in around 40% of the variations in the frequency of breathing interruptions during sleep. This could be due to:
- Body weight and fat distribution. Body fat amount and distribution are important factors that contribute to the development of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Genes play a role in determining how much fat you store and where you store it in your body. Excess fat in the neck area can narrow the airway, making breathing difficult during sleep. Upper-body obesity, with increased visceral fat, is more strongly associated with hypertension than that of those with lower-body obesity. Losing weight has been shown to improve OSA symptoms, highlighting the importance of maintaining a healthy weight.
- Facial structure. Facial anatomy is another factor that can influence the development of OSA. Genes determine the shape and size of your face and skull, including your nose, jaw, and palate. These features can affect the size of your airway and how easily it collapses during sleep. For example, a small jaw or narrow airway may increase the likelihood of airway obstruction during sleep.
But, it is important to note that while sleep apnea is genetic in some cases, it’s far more likely to be a combination of genetic, health, and lifestyle factors. For instance, older adults are more likely to experience sleep apnea as their airways weaken with age, and men are more likely to develop it than women. Individuals who smoke may develop sleep apnea from the inflammation and fluid retention in their airways, while those who use sedatives may find that their airways relax too much, leading to apnea episodes.
What Are The Signs That You Have Sleep Apnea?
While the most common sign of sleep apnea is loud snoring, followed by gasping or choking sounds as breathing resumes, not everyone with sleep apnea snores. Other signs to watch for include:
- Excessive daytime sleepiness
- You may find yourself having moments of micro-sleeps.
- Waking up with a sore throat, dry mouth, or headaches.
- Mood changes, such as depression and irritability.
- Lack of concentration
- Unexplained weight gain.
Sleep Apnea & Its Impact on Your Health: Short & Chronic Risks
As mentioned earlier, sleep apnea can have a significant impact on your health, so much so that sleep apnea can kill you or cause you to develop risk factors that contribute to a higher mortality rate risk. To explain why this is, we’ve outlined the short and long-term or chronic risks that sleep apnea brings about in untreated individuals.
The Short-Term Risks
In the short term, untreated sleep apnea can cause daytime fatigue, difficulty concentrating, and irritability. These kinds of changes can impact your ability to work effectively, drive safely, and perform daily tasks that are required for you to live, like taking part in eating, drinking enough water, and taking care of your hygiene. On top of this, sleep apnea can provoke sudden cardiac arrhythmias, which may lead to atrial fibrillation, heart attacks, or even stroke if your body cannot reset itself and get the oxygen it needs or reduce the strain on your heart. For individuals with obstructive sleep apnea, the risk for sudden death during sleep is higher than those without.
Chronic or Long-Term Risks
In the long term, untreated sleep apnea can lead to a whole host of health problems, with a significant risk being the development of insulin resistance. This is a condition where your body becomes less sensitive to insulin, the hormone that regulates your blood sugar levels, which leads to type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is a chronic condition that can cause serious complications like nerve damage, blindness, and kidney damage when left unmanaged.
The repeated drops in oxygen levels and the strain that it puts on your cardiovascular system can lead to the development of high blood pressure. High blood pressure is linked to a greater risk of heart disease, heart attacks, and stroke. In addition to this, sleep apnea can contribute to weight gain and obesity, which compounds on top of other health problems.
While we mentioned difficulty concentrating and completing daily tasks in the short term, this can develop into full-blown depression and anxiety due to the lack of quality sleep that accompanies sleep apnea. So, if you’re experiencing mood swings, irritability, and difficulty concentrating, with periods of no motivation, no interest in everyday life, and intrusive thoughts, then we recommend seeking treatment as these put your mental and overall well-being at risk.
Diagnosis & Treatment: Can Sleep Apnea Be Cured?
If you suspect that you may have sleep apnea, it’s very important to book an appointment with one of our specialists, who can run you through a sleep study and confirm and diagnose the severity of your condition. The most common treatment for sleep apnea is continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, which involves wearing a mask over your nose and mouth while you sleep. Continuous airflow is used to keep your airways open, which helps drastically reduce the episodes you experience. Other treatments for sleep apnea include:
- Oral appliances. You wear these in the mouth to keep the upper airway patent throughout the night.
- Surgical options. There are numerous surgical options for addressing common reasons for OSA like the tongue falling backward, boosting airflow through nasal passageways, repositioning excess tissue at the back of the throat, and more. You can see a full list of surgical options here.
- Lifestyle changes. In mild cases, changing lifestyle habits to cut out sedatives, alcohol, and smoking can help reduce sleep apnea. Adding in an exercise routine also helps if sleep apnea is being worsened due to obesity.
It is important to speak with a doctor to determine the best course of action for your specific case of sleep apnea, as untreated sleep apnea can lead to a lower quality of life that is exacerbated by health complications.
Conclusion: The Importance of Seeking Treatment for Sleep Apnea Today!
Sleep apnea is a serious condition that shouldn’t be ignored, and recognizing the signs in yourself or a loved one is a critical first step to seeking treatment as soon as possible. For those living with sleep apnea in Florida, the Florida Otolaryngology Group offers comprehensive sleep apnea surgical treatment options for individuals who cannot tolerate the CPAP or ASV machines very well. Our team of experts will work with you to determine the best course of treatment, ensuring that you get the care you need to manage your condition effectively. Don’t ignore the snore any longer, and contact Florida Otolaryngology Group today for more information about our sleep apnea services.
