Loud Snoring and High Blood Pressure
Sleep is an important, pleasant experience for many people. For some people, lack of restful sleep is a constant and dangerous problem. Combine sleep problems with high blood pressure and your health could be in trouble.
Ignoring the high blood pressure and sleep apnea combination can lead to irregular heart rate, heart disease, heart attack, high blood pressure stroke and increased motor vehicle accident rate.
If you have any of the symptoms below, talk with your doctor to find out if you have sleep apnea:
- Loud, frequent snoring
- Frequent episodes of apnea(breath holding) or night time choking
- Daytime sleepiness
- Morning headaches
What is Sleep Apnea?
Sleep apnea is a common sleep disorder that affects one-in-10 middle-aged, overweight men, and half as many women. If you have sleep apnea, you frequently hold your breath during sleep. This is caused by the upper airway or back of the throat collapsing during sleep.
Breathing can stop for several seconds to over a minute during each episode of apnea. Each time you stop breathing, your blood oxygen level drops. It can also cause your blood pressure to double or triple and make it harder for your heart to pump normally. Your body gasps for breath and you feel like you didn't get any sleep.
Easy Diagnosis
Your doctor can send you to a sleep specialist who will give you a physical exam, take a detailed medical history, ask you to complete a sleep diary and possibly perform a sleep study. A sleep study is painless and monitors your breathing, heart rate, oxygen level, eye movement and brain waves during sleep.
Once a diagnosis is made, your doctor and the sleep specialist will design a treatment plan for you. If you follow the treatment plan you will be able to manage and improve your sleep and blood pressure. Your sleep will improve and you will feel better during the day.
This information has been approved by Eric Huang, MD (September 2008).
