Along with good nutrition and regular exercise, healthy sleep is essential for a healthy heart. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S, so treating sleep apnea is good for your sleep and your heart.

According to the National Healthy Sleep Awareness Project, obstructive sleep apnea is a chronic disease that afflicts at least 25 million U.S. adults.

“Obstructive sleep apnea is destroying the health of millions of Americans, and the problem has only gotten worse over the last two decades,” says Dr. Timothy Morgenthaler, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and a national spokesperson for the Healthy Sleep Project. The project is a collaboration between the AASM, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Sleep Research Society and other partners.

Sleep apnea involves repetitive pauses in breathing during sleep, which can put an enormous strain on the heart. Severe sleep apnea can reduce the amount of oxygen in your blood and cause dangerous surges in your blood pressure. This stress triggers your body to respond in ways that may promote heart disease.

Sleep apnea may be far more common than you think. Between 30 percent and 40 percent of adults with high blood pressure also have sleep apnea. The rate of sleep apnea soars to 80 percent among people with high blood pressure that do not respond to treatment with medications. Research even shows that sleep apnea can affect the shape, size and performance of your heart.

“The good news is that detecting and treating sleep apnea can improve your heart health and other clinical outcomes,” Morgenthaler says.

The primary treatment for obstructive sleep apnea is continuous positive airway pressure therapy. CPAP therapy keeps your airway open by providing a stream of air through a mask that you wear during sleep. Treating sleep apnea with CPAP therapy improves blood pressure control and reduces the risk of heart disease. It can even reverse the changes to the shape and size of the heart that can be caused by sleep apnea.

Excess body weight is the leading risk factor for sleep apnea, and loud snoring is a common symptom. Other warning signs for sleep apnea include choking or gasping during sleep, and daytime fatigue or sleepiness. Visit stopsnoringpledge.org to pledge to “Stop the Snore” by talking to a doctor about your risk for sleep apnea.

“Treatment of sleep apnea can be life-changing and potentially life-saving,” Morgenthaler says. “For the best possible clinical outcomes, people with heart disease should discuss their risk for sleep apnea with their doctor.”

For more information, visit projecthealthysleep.org.

The post More than just annoying: The link between snoring and heart disease first appeared on The How Do Gardener.

Sleep apnea is linked to major health conditions including diabetes, hypertension, obesity and coronary heart diseases. Often, sleep apnea goes undiagnosed by physicians since it is difficult detecting the condition during a routine office visit. In fact, untreated sleep apnea may cause up to $3.4 billion in additional medical costs in the United States. With the added challenge of having no blood tests available for diagnosing the problem, symptom recognition is extremely important. Discuss the possibility of sleep apnea if you answer positively to the below questions, using the acronym STOP:

Snore – Do you snore loudly?
Tired – Do you often feel tired, fatigued or sleepy during the daytime?
Observed – Has anyone observed you stop breathing during your sleep?
Pressure – Do you have or are you being treated for high blood pressure?

Once identified, a sleep study may need to be administered to confirm the diagnosis, which may require staying overnight in a sleep lab or self-administering a home sleep test.

Treatment may be an ongoing process, but with proper maintenance and care, the quality of life for patients with sleep apnea can improve. Here are some common tips and treatment options. Be sure to consult with your doctor, as they will be able to provide you with the best treatment plan based on your own individual health.

* Positive airway pressure devices (PAP): PAP devices are prescribed by your physician and come with a variety of breathing masks, meant to be worn over the nose and/or the mouth, supplying air into the throat, which prevents the airway from collapsing. These devices are most often obtained from a home health care company and are typically covered by insurance.

* Oral appliances: An oral appliance, which looks like a sports mouth guard or orthodontic retainer, is worn while sleeping and is designed to keep the airway open by preventing the tongue and soft tissues in the back of the throat from collapsing.

* Maintain a healthy weight: About 70 percent of people with sleep apnea are overweight or obese – a common link between diabetes and sleep loss is obesity. Taking steps to lose weight will increase your chances of managing sleep apnea and also reduce the risk of diabetes, a condition that comes with its own set of health problems like kidney disease, heart disease and blindness.

* Avoid alcohol consumption and smoking: Alcohol consumption relaxes the upper airway breathing muscles, which makes it difficult for the airway to remain open, further aggravating sleep apnea symptoms. Smoking swells the upper airway, which also worsens symptoms.

For more information and to see a video series on sleep apnea, visit www.LibertyMedical.com/video.

The post Waking Up to the Serious Problem of Sleep Apnea first appeared on The How Do Gardener.