Evidence Based Sleep Apnea Information
THE DANGERS OF UNTREATED SLEEP APNEA
The Cardiovascular System
KOZIE Hands You The Sleep Apnea Research on a Silver Platter
THE DANGERS OF UNTREATED SLEEP APNEA
The Neurological System
BRAIN
COGNITIVE DEFICITS
"Our findings suggest that distinct, OSA-driven processes may be sufficient for cognitive changes to occur as early as in middle age, in otherwise healthy individuals."
"In our patient cohort, we demonstrate poorer executive-functioning, visuospatial memory, and deficits in vigilance sustained attention, psychomotor and impulse control. Remarkably, we also report, for the first time, effects on social cognition in this group of male, middle-aged OSA patients."
BRAIN
WHITE MATTER CHANGES
Results in sleep apnea patients BEFORE treatment showed impairments in most cognitive areas, mood, and sleepiness, that were associated with reduction of white matter fiber integrity in multiple brain areas.
"Over the course of 12 months of PAP treatment, an almost complete reversal of white matter abnormalities in all the affected regions was observed in patients who were compliant with treatment. Significant improvements involving memory, attention, and executive-functioning paralleled white matter changes after treatment."
BRAIN
DECREASED BRAIN ACTIVATION
"Patients with OSA showed decreased brain activation compared with control subjects during an attention task. The association of arousal index (but not hypoxia) with slow reaction times and brain activation suggests that alertness and reaction times show greater correlations with measures of sleep disruption than with measures of hypoxia."
PREVALENCE OF SLEEP APNEA
In General, In Relation to Obesity, and In Relation to Ethnicity
THE IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP
What High Quality Sleep Can Do
FACILITATES PROBLEM SOLVING
COGNITIVE FUNCTION
"Sleep is essential for adequate cognitive functioning and particularly for the consolidation of newly acquired memories (Durmer and Dinges, 2005; Rasch and Born, 2013)."
"By restructuring and changing memory representations, sleep may also aid the generation of insight and creative solutions for problem solving (Sio and Ormerod, 2009; Lewis et al., 2018), although evidence for this assumption is mixed."
REPAIRS
THE BODY
MEMORY, METABOLISM, FATIGUE
"Sleep has been proven to improve memory recall, regulate metabolism, and reduce mental fatigue.
The emotional and mental handicaps associated with chronic sleep loss as well as the highly hazardous situations which can be contributed to the lack of sleep is a serious concern.
When one sleeps, the brain reorganizes and recharges itself, and removes toxic waste byproducts which have accumulated throughout the day. This evidence demonstrates that sleeping can clear the brain and help maintain its normal functioning."
REGULATES EMOTIONS
STIMULI RESPONSE
“To our surprise, those who were sleep-deprived responded to low stressors in much the same way that people without any sleep deprivation tended to respond to high stressors,” said Dr. Dinges. “In other words, we tend to become much more sensitive emotionally and socially when we are sleep-deprived.
That is what I like to call the ‘who was at my desk or who touched my coffee cup?’ phenomenon.
I think we all have experienced having an extreme reaction or a very negative emotional response to a mild stressor when we have not had enough sleep.”
THE EFFECTS OF SUBSTANCES ON SLEEP
DEPRESSANTS & STIMULANTS
SSRI’S
REM IMPAIRMENT
In the long term, all antidepressants which show clinical efficacy improve sleep secondary to improvement of mood and daytime activity.
However, in the short term, while some of them may impair sleep due to the activating effects, other may improve sleep due to the sedative properties.
CAFFEINE
ADENOSINE RECEPTOR BLOCKAGE
Work in mice provided strong evidence that caffeine promotes wakefulness primarily by blocking the A2A subtype of adenosine receptors.
Research in humans typically relied on the study of caffeine, to investigate the role of adenosine on sleep homeostasis. Polysomnographic measures of sleep latency were consistently prolonged and sleep efficiency was reduced.
ALCOHOL
FREQUENT NIGHT TIME AWAKENINGS
Persons who consume alcohol in excessive amounts suffer from poor sleep quality and patients with alcohol use disorders commonly report insomnia.
A number of studies have shown that drinking momentarily increases sleepiness, but later causes frequent nighttime and early morning awakenings. Individuals with alcohol use disorders frequently consume alcohol before sleep in an effort to improve their sleep.
