Sleep apnea’s consequences go beyond health care costs

By Ira Zunin

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Mar 17, 2012

~~<p>Do you often wake up feeling unrefreshed and remain tired throughout the day? Do you experience morning headaches or difficulty with memory and concentration? Your problem could be sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea causes the airway to narrow and breathing to slow or stop for brief periods, usually many times each night. During these episodes, blood oxygen levels go down and carbon dioxide levels go up. This triggers alarms throughout the body and increases the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.</p>
<p>The single greatest risk factor for sleep apnea is obesity. This column previously cited data from the Congressional Budget Office noting that from 1987 to 2007 the fraction of overweight adults increased to 63 percent from 44 percent while the share of obese adults more than doubled to 28 percent from 13 percent. That trend continues to the present day.</p>
~~

Do you often wake up feeling unrefreshed and remain tired throughout the day? Do you experience morning headaches or difficulty with memory and concentration? Your problem could be sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea causes the airway to narrow and breathing to slow or stop for brief periods, usually many times each night. During these episodes, blood oxygen levels go down and carbon dioxide levels go up. This triggers alarms throughout the body and increases the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.

The single greatest risk factor for sleep apnea is obesity. This column previously cited data from the Congressional Budget Office noting that from 1987 to 2007 the fraction of overweight adults increased to 63 percent from 44 percent while the share of obese adults more than doubled to 28 percent from 13 percent. That trend continues to the present day. Login for more...