Sleep apnea: can you die from it?

Sleep apnea affects 5 out of 100 adults over the age of 45. This serious disorder is defined by a stoppage of breathing during the night, of variable duration and on several occasions. A problem often raised by the person who shares the room, the sleeper being only rarely aware of it. Far from being trivial, this sleep apnea can have serious health consequences and should not be ignored.

Direct consequences on health

Sleep apnea plays above all on the quality of sleep and rest, and on the recovery of the person. In fact, the patient who is affected is very often tired as soon as he gets up, with periods of drowsiness during the day.

A state of affairs which not only can be dangerous on a daily basis (due to lack of vigilance for example) but which also aggravates other pathologies of the adult person. According to recent studies relayed in Doctissimo, sleep apnea would thus aggravate cardiovascular disorders, hypertension, diabetes and even the occurrence of Alzheimer’s disease. Effective support is therefore necessary.

Can you die from these respiratory arrests?

If lack of sleep promotes comorbidities, are respiratory arrests caused by sleep apnea fatal? And should your spouse be worried about listening to these irregularities?

The answer is no for Dr Gérald Kierzek, medical director of Doctissimo. “It is not apnea that kills, but the cardiovascular risk factors that patients accumulate. They are therefore more at risk of infarction for example or cardiac arrest during sleep”. On the other hand, we do not die from lack of oxygen, because “the regulatory centers of the brain always re-trigger respiration”.

For Dr. Jonathan Taieb, sleep doctor consulted, the question above all serves to recall a worrying reality:

“Severe apnea that is not treated can have a significant impact on health and the risk of developing more or less serious diseases such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and therefore as As a doctor, I must prevent these complications. Sleep has this role of preserving the cardiovascular system and apnea disrupts this function. And we know that there is an emergence of cardio-metabolic pathologies linked to sleep, when it is bad.”

For the doctor, it is therefore important to carry out a diagnosis of this sleep apnea with the establishment of treatment, sometimes early, to prevent potential complications and increase the quality of life of the patient during his lifetime.

What treatment should be put in place?

Treating sleep apnea, on the other hand, can save you years of quality of life.

“The treatment depends on the severity, because there are mainly two reasons for sleep apnea, either significant weight gain with fatty infiltration, or apnea related to morphology. If it is very severe, we have tendency to treat with continuous positive pressure.When the apnea is moderate, we can also put on a mandibular advancement orthosis, encourage weight loss, or have recourse to mandibular advancement surgery.With appropriate treatment, we observe a better quality of life and better health: patients with resistant hypertension, treated with 2 or 3 drugs at the same time, can be taken care of for apnea and sleep and then see their treatment against hypertension be reduced !”

Sleep apnea symptoms you should know

To avoid these inconveniences, it is better to take into account any sleep abnormalities that you may encounter. Nighttime symptoms to watch out for and be aware of are:

• Severe, daily snoring, which often bothers loved ones. It is present in 95% of cases;
• Breathing pauses during sleep, noted by the entourage;
• Episodes of gasping during sleep;
• Repeated, startled awakenings, with a feeling of suffocation or suffocation;
• A restless sleep, interspersed with repeated micro-awakenings;
• Nightmares on themes of asphyxiation, falling or imminent death;
• A restless and restless sleep, with particularly undone sheets;
• A need to urinate more than once during the night.

Also during the day:

• Excessive sleepiness not explained by other factors
• Chronic fatigue;
• Difficulty concentrating, memorizing;
• Mood disorders, some irritability;
• Headaches in the morning;
• Libido and erection disorders.

If you notice several of these signs in you or your partner, do not hesitate to go to your doctor or a sleep center to evaluate it and determine if you are affected by sleep apnea.