What happens if you let sleep apnea go untreated?
Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder that happens when your breathing stops and starts while you slumber. If it goes untreated, it can cause loud snoring, daytime tiredness, or more serious problems like heart trouble or high blood pressure.
How does sleep apnea affect the elderly?
The prevalence of sleep apnoea increases with age, although the severity of the disorder, as well as the morbidity and mortality associated with it, may actually decrease in the elderly. A decline in cognitive functioning in older adults with sleep apnoea may resemble dementia.
What happens if you have sleep apnea and don’t use CPAP?
Many people worry that not using CPAP for one night may put their health at risk. The risk of sudden death, stroke, or heart arrhythmia due to sleep apnea that occurs during one night of failed use is likely vanishingly small. Instead, sleep apnea is a long-term risk factor for these medical consequences.
Is sleep apnea more common in older people?
Men are two to three times more likely to have sleep apnea than are women. However, women increase their risk if they’re overweight, and their risk also appears to rise after menopause. Being older. Sleep apnea occurs significantly more often in older adults.
What is the medical definition of apnea?
Apnea is defined by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) as the cessation of airflow for at least 10 seconds.
Can you suffocate in your sleep from sleep apnea?
Although a person with sleep apnea does not necessarily die while sleeping, the risk of death increases significantly if sleep apnea is untreated. The reason people with sleep apnea do not usually die in their sleep is that when the brain senses that it doesn’t have enough oxygen, it alerts the body to wake up.
Does sleep apnea weaken the heart?
It’s estimated that patients with sleep apnea are 2-4 four times more likely to develop heart arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms) than people without this condition. Sleep apnea increases the risk of heart failure by 140\% and the risk of coronary heart disease by 30\%.
What health issues can sleep apnea cause?
Sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder that can lead to serious health problems, such as high blood pressure and heart trouble, if untreated. Untreated sleep apnea causes breathing to stop repeatedly during sleep, causing loud snoring and daytime tiredness, even with a full night’s sleep.
What percentage of older adults have sleep apnea?
Gooneratne added that both daytime sleepiness and sleep apnea are common problems, with sleep apnea affecting up to 20 percent of older adults.
What is an apneic patient?
: of, relating to, or affected by apnea : involving or exhibiting transient cessation of respiration Obstructive sleep apnea is the intermittent interruption of airflow through the nose and mouth that occurs during sleep and is considered present when individuals have more than 5 apneic episodes per hour of sleep.—