Sunday, January 23, 2011

Sleep apnea and emotional problems

It isn’t any secret that sleep apnea makes you feel irritable, unhappy, tired and depressed and it is no wonder because lack of sleep will cause these feeling with anyone whether they have sleep apnea or not. Usually with sleep apnea most people think about all the physical damage that is done to the body, such as heart disease, diabetes, poor circulation and countless other things that tear your body down. And that is understandable but you also to consider the damage of sleep deprivation and what it does to your emotional state of being. The stress and anxiety that is the result of sleep apnea can also lead to physical harm as well.


  
Emotional problems and sleep apnea

  
  • Depression – If you didn’t sleep or didn’t get any rest for many years you would probably be depressed too. It is common among sleep apnea patients. 
  • Addiction – This is linked to depression because people often try to self medicate themselves out of problems with pills, sleeping pills especially, alcohol and drugs. Alcohol in fact makes sleep apnea worse. 
  • Stress – Without the proper rest your body is easily susceptible to stress and anxiety which in turn makes other emotional problems worse. 
  • OCD – there seems to be a connection between obsessive compulsive disorder and some sleep disorders including sleep apnea. 
  • Memory loss – memory loss is common with sleep apnea sufferers which can lead to stress and depression. 

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2 comments:

  1. David, thank you for posting this!!! YES it is so true that sleep apnea and severe insomnia causes ocd. I have experienced it. It's awful. I'm hoping it goes away once my sleep problem is fixed. What emotional aspects have you experienced?

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  2. Probably the biggest one is depression followed by stress. although sleep apnea is the only reason for these problems I believe that they greatly contribute to them.
    thanks for the comment
    David

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