It’s already well known that untreated sleep apnea can negatively impact your health in a variety of ways, such as increasing your risk of experiencing a heart attack. But some of the consequences of this disorder aren’t as obvious. Research has shown that sleep apnea could actually cause you to age at an accelerated rate! Below, you can learn more about sleep apnea and how it can affect the aging process.
What is Sleep Apnea?
Sleep apnea is a common sleep disorder where breathing repeatedly stops and restarts. This causes oxygen levels in the blood to drop significantly. Furthermore, each interruption in breathing can result in the brain waking the body up in an effort to get some air. In severe cases, breathing can be interrupted as many as 30 times in a single hour, making it extremely difficult – if not impossible – to get a good night’s rest.
The longer sleep apnea goes untreated, the more likely it is to lead to serious cardiovascular problems. Additionally, the lack of quality sleep can cause you to feel extremely tired during the day, which can make it more difficult to focus and could even increase your risk of getting into an accident while driving.
What is the Link Between Sleep Apnea and Aging?
Your body’s biological age can potentially be higher than your chronological age due to a variety of factors, and researchers have found that one of these could be the presence of sleep apnea. A study performed at the University of Missouri-Columbia looked at the cases of 16 people with obstructive sleep apnea and compared them to 8 people without the disorder. The results showed that those with sleep apnea did experience faster biological aging, as measured by the amount of damage that occurred to the body’s cells over time.
Additional research is required to determine the exact reasons why sleep apnea affects the biological aging process. It’s worth noting, however, that there is evidence that having sleep apnea treated can potentially reverse accelerated aging.
What Should You Do About Sleep Apnea?
If you want to avoid the consequences of accelerated aging, it’s best to have sleep apnea diagnosed and addressed as soon as possible. You’ll need to have a sleep test performed so that a sleep expert can confirm that you are truly suffering from sleep-disordered breathing. Then you can start exploring your options for treatment. In many cases, you can manage it with a customized oral appliance; this can be a quieter, more comfortable alternative to a CPAP machine.
The idea that sleep apnea can speed up the aging process can be a concerning one, but that’s simply all the more reason to be proactive about having the disorder treated so that you can get a good night’s sleep again!
About the Author
Dr. Glenn Thompson went to the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in Boston. In 2013, he became interested in how dentists can use oral appliances to help treat obstructive sleep apnea. Today, he solely focuses on helping patients find solutions for their sleep-disordered breathing. To schedule a consultation with Dr. Thompson at Downtown Denver Sleep Solutions, visit his website or call (303) 377-5337.