Dangers of Sleep Apnea

Although many people wrongly consider their snoring little more than a nuisance that occasionally forces someone to retreat to the living room sofa in order to get a night’s sleep, sleep apnea should be taken very seriously. Sleep apnea poses a very serious medical risk.

Sleep apnea causes accidents
People with sleep apnea are more than six times more likely to be engaged in automobile accidents than those who don’t have the disease, as all those nightly efforts to breathe prevent the sufferer from getting adequate rest while sleeping. Drowsiness and an increased tendency toward accident result.

Sleep apnea is linked to strokes
According to the National Sleep Foundation, people suffering from sleep apnea are four times as likely to experience a stroke. A 2002 study in the respected medical journal, Lancet, found that treating apnea reduced the risk of stroke by approximately twenty percent.

Sleep apnea is linked to heart disease
The same study found that sleep apnea victims were three times more likely than the general population to suffer from heart disease.
 
Sleep apnea and hypertension are linked
American Family Physician reports that approximately one half of those people diagnosed with essential hypertension also suffer from sleep apnea. That isn’t a coincidence, as the same researchers found that half of those diagnosed with apnea suffer from elevated blood pressure. The link is clear.