How Sleep Apnea Impacts Your Health 

Are you wondering how sleep apnea impacts your health?  Did you know that it affects you not only physically but emotionally?  The early symptoms of sleep apnea may only include fatigue and drowsiness, but if sleep apnea is not treated it can actually lead to heart failure.   It is important to understand how sleep apnea impacts your health; this will help you to take the best care of yourself possible so you can avoid devastating consequences. 

Your Heart 

Did you know that your heart will suffer with sleep apnea is left untreated or undiagnosed?  Sleep apnea actually causes the patient to stop breathing ranging from a few seconds to even a full minute.  The problem is that the heart will try to compensate for the increase of carbon dioxide in the blood.  The heart will pump harder in an effort to clear the carbon dioxide from the blood, but this puts a strain on this organ when it happens repeatedly. 

High blood pressure often results from the process.  Over time, research has proven, that the heart valves will become so weakened that the heart will no longer pump blood with the necessary force.  The heart is the first organ to feel the negative impacts of sleep apnea and this can lead to devastating consequences. 

Other Risks 

Sleep apnea impacts your health in other ways.  It has been shown that sleep apnea makes one more prone to accidents.  Because you are waking up many times during the night restful sleep is not possible.  The result is that there is daytime fatigue, which is often the cause of accidents. 

When your reflex response is slower and your hand eye coordination is slower, it makes you more likely to have accidents in the home and even while you are driving the car. 

Emotions 

As you know, it is difficult to get through a day when you have not gotten enough sleep for one night.  When you have untreated sleep apnea it can take a toll emotionally, in fact depression can even be the result.  Feelings of despair are very common, which can impact the way an otherwise healthy person is able to deal with stressful situations, which will lead an on overall difficulty with coping with life. 

Sleep apnea affects the health of the person who has the condition, as well as his or her family.  Sleep walking, waking up in the middle of the night, and cessation of breathing is disturbing to other people.  The emotional results of the condition also impact relationships in a negative way. 

If you believe that you have sleep apnea, you need to see a doctor and work closely with them to help treat the condition so you don’t have to suffer physically or emotionally anymore. 

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