Sleep Apnea Causes Anxiety And Depression

Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder that causes you to stop breathing while you re asleep. Can stress or anxiety cause sleep apnea.

How To Recognize Symptoms Of Sleep Apnea Sleep Apnea Central

Sleep apnea can be a cause for concern because it affects the way you breathe when you re asleep.

Sleep apnea causes anxiety and depression. When a person comes into dyken s clinic to report having trouble sleeping his first step is to find a diagnosis. Learn about the connection between sleep apnea and depression. Treating sleep apnea first or at the same time as depression and anxiety.

In a newsletter also published by uc berkeley 5 an urgent care physician notes that a variety of conditions in the student population ranging from oversleeping to sleep inhibiting anxiety disorders and physical issues like sleep apnea suggest that the stress of student life may lead to both anxiety and physical sleep disorders such as osa although one doesn t necessarily cause. Though it s clear that apnea is a very common cause of anxiety and panic attacks it is difficult to establish that anxiety can lead to sleep apnea. It can thus negatively affect your treatment for sleep apnea.

Several possible pathophysiological mechanisms could explain how obstructive sleep apnea can cause or worsen depression. Sleep apnea can actually cause significant anxiety and panic attacks. It interrupts sleep and leads to sleep debt which makes it harder for the brain to cope with stress.

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome osas is a common sleep related breathing disorder with a prevalence of 2 4 among adults in the united states it is characterized by repeated episodes of partial or complete upper airway obstruction during sleep and is accompanied by intermittent hypoxemia increased respiratory effort and sleep disturbance. Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common type and this is when the soft tissue in the back of your throat relaxes and blocks the airway. It also causes stress on the mind and body because apnea prevents you from recovering after sleep.

Though some studies suggest a mutual relationship the relationship remains unclear. Sleep disordered breathing the snorts gasps and short pauses in breathing that characterize obstructive sleep apnea has been linked with depression in previous research. One theory is that the lack of oxygen hypoxia that occurs with sleep apnea may cause problems in the body and brain that lead to depression 1 2 sleep apnea may also cause inflammation in the body and affect neurotransmitter activity both of which could contribute to.

However anxiety can prevent you from having a good night s sleep which can eventually aggravate sleep apnea. Researchers can t know for sure whether this is just a correlation or whether sleep apnea can cause depression directly. The mechanism of the relationship between obstructive sleep apnea and depression is complex and remains unclear.

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