Do you snore loudly? Has your partner told you that you seem to stop breathing at night? Are you exhausted during the day, despite supposedly getting eight hours of sleep? You might have sleep apnea, a sleep disorder that affects millions of Americans.
While you may assume that sleep apnea is just an inconvenience that makes you snore, the reality is far more serious. Untreated sleep apnea not only causes poor quality sleep, but it also poses serious risks to your cardiovascular health and can set the stage for heart disease, stroke, and other life-threatening complications.
Kunal Patel, MD, and our team at NJ Cardiovascular Institute specialize in comprehensive heart care in Elizabeth, Lakewood, Paramus, and Secaucus, New Jersey. Here’s what you need to know about the connections between sleep apnea and your cardiovascular health.
Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when your airway becomes partially or completely blocked while you sleep, which makes your breathing pause repeatedly throughout the night. These breathing interruptions can last seconds to minutes and occur dozens or even hundreds of times per night.
Each time your breathing stops, your oxygen levels drop. Your brain registers the oxygen deprivation and jolts you awake to resume breathing, though you often don't remember these micro-awakenings.
This cycle of oxygen deprivation followed by sudden arousal fragments your sleep and prevents you from reaching the deep, restorative sleep stages your body needs. Beyond the sleep disruption, these repeated cycles of hypoxia (low oxygen) and sudden arousal trigger a cascade of cardiovascular stress.
The condition affects about 30 million Americans, making it one of the most common sleep disorders in the country — but did you know many people don't realize they have sleep apnea?
It’s easy to assume that your snoring is just annoying rather than a warning sign of an underlying condition, or to attribute daytime exhaustion to stress or busy schedules rather than recognizing it as a symptom of disrupted sleep. Many cases of sleep apnea go undiagnosed for years, and it could be silently damaging your cardiovascular system.
Each time your breathing stops and your oxygen levels plummet during the night, your body's stress response activates. Your sympathetic nervous system kicks into high gear, releasing stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol that increase your heart rate and blood pressure. Your blood vessels constrict, forcing your heart to work harder.
When this stress response repeats dozens or hundreds of times per night, night after night, the effect becomes chronic. Your resting blood pressure can increase, your blood vessel walls may become damaged, and your heart muscle must work excessively hard to pump blood throughout your body.
Inflammation throughout your cardiovascular system increases as your body remains in a constant state of physiological stress.
The consequences of untreated sleep apnea extend far beyond poor sleep quality. You face an increased risk of developing high blood pressure or experiencing a heart attack, particularly during sleep when your oxygen levels are at their lowest.
You may also have an increased risk of stroke as the combination of high blood pressure, blood vessel damage, and increased blood clotting tendency creates the perfect conditions for clots to form.
Atrial fibrillation — an irregular heart rhythm — is more common in people with sleep apnea. Heart failure risk increases, too, as your heart becomes progressively weakened from years of excessive workload.
If you suspect that you have sleep apnea, evaluation is straightforward. A sleep study — either in a specialized sleep center or using a home testing device — identifies whether you have sleep apnea and determines its severity.
Treatment options range from lifestyle modifications and positional therapy to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines that keep your airway open during sleep. In some cases, surgical intervention may be an option.
Plus, treating your sleep apnea dramatically reduces your cardiovascular risk. Your blood pressure improves, your heart doesn't have to work as hard, and the inflammation throughout your cardiovascular system decreases.
If you’re diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea, you don’t have to figure out the health implications alone.
At NJ Cardiovascular Institute, we provide complete cardiovascular care. This includes evaluating the effect of sleep apnea on your heart health and coordinating care with sleep specialists to ensure comprehensive treatment addressing both your sleep apnea and any resulting heart conditions.
Don't ignore snoring or daytime exhaustion. Contact NJ Cardiovascular Institute to discuss sleep apnea evaluation and protect your cardiovascular health.
