What happens to your body when you have sleep apnea
Management of an easily treatable but often undiagnosed sleep disorder can help prevent or reduce cognitive decline.
"I'm going to sleep when I'm dead" - a doctor and a CEO I hear this excuse of patients and other entrepreneurs too often. What I tell them is that a good night of rest is more important than they realize. It does not only allow you to feel, look and perform better, but it can have changes changing life about the quality of your future life. Unlikely sleephas been associatedWith Alzheimer's disease, so if you observe and manage a sleep disorder at the beginning of your life, you can help prevent or decline slow cognitive. It is important to understand how they connect since easy home treatments for common sleep disorder can have a positive impact - and help prevent the most common dementia of the world. In other words, lack of sleep may not make you fall dead but can certainly do the rest of your life very difficult.
What is sleep apnea?
Alzheimer's disease and obstructive sleep apnea are scientifically tied. It is important to understand how they connect since easy home treatments for common sleep disorder can have a positive impact - and help prevent the most common dementia of the world. Sleep apnea is a disease that disrupts breathing during sleep and causes the alarm clock in a subcunal way up to 100 times an hour. Sleep apnea is associated with strong snoring, winning the infamous title of the "killer not so silent". The disease puts the risk of risks associated with obvious complications such as extreme fatigue and poor oxygen levels.
Who suffers from sleep apnea?
It affects about 25 million Americans, but an incredible 80% are not undiagnosed and therefore untreated. They suffer unnecessarily, but not in silence.
In addition to fatigue, there are other people regarding the impacts such as cognitive impairment and cardiovascular diseases, which can increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease, a disease that afflicts more than 4.7 million. Americans over 65 years old.
The connection between sleep apnea and a higher risk of dementia
Studies have shown a connection between sleep apnea and a higher risk of developing dementia at an early age. In fact, a respected study revealed that people with sleep apnea twice have the risk of cognitive decline and / or Alzheimer's disease. Left untreated, the poor effects of sleep apnea on cognition, especially attention and executive function (such as working memory, flexible thinking and self-control), can make dementia worse.
RELATED:11 symptoms of Covid you never want to get
Is sleep apnea treatable?
There is good news, though. Sleep apnea is typically treatable and it's easy to handle at home. A key tool in the fight against the disease is the CPAP machine, which is a nocturnal mask that uses light atmospheric pressure to keep the airways open while you sleep. For those who suffer from both sleep apnea and Alzheimer's disease, CPAP therapy has shown to improve verbal learning, memory and executive functions. Even more promising, the continued use of the machine can slow down the cognitive decline of those of dementia.
An important take away: The negative effects of snorkeling on cognition can aggravate Alzheimer's disease. But by diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorder, there are promising preventive effects on dementia. Simple health care changes can have a significant impact on the quality of life.
What to do when you have sleep apnea?
Now that we know the important link between sleep apnea and dementia, what is the next step of safeguarding your health? If you are a strong snurry - or live with someone who is - it's quite possible that sleep apnea is to blame. Look for a counselor of a sleep specialist for a diagnosis. This can be done with a night in a sleep clinic or thanks to modern technology, organized in the comfort of your home. If necessary, the treatment of sleep apnea can save your life and significantly improve its quality, help prevent and mitigate dementia. As for yourself: go through this pandemic at your healthier, do not miss these35 places you are most likely to catch Covid.
About the Author:Dr. Daniel Rifkin is the founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Removable. As a neurologist and specialist of sleep certified by the Council, Dr. Rifkin has 23 years of experience in the practice of sleep medicine and is an expert published in his field.
