Sleep apnea and heart disease

Nutrition Health Review, Wntr, 1996

Sleep apnea, a common but rarely diagnosed problem, may play a major role in heart disease.

Apnea occurs when people experience brief interruptions in their breathing during sleep. The problem may occur up to sixty times an~hour, and each time it happens the brain gives the heart a jolt to get breathing started again. Besides disrupting sleep, these repeated jolts place a considerable strain on the heart.

For the 2.5 million Americans with congestive heart failure, sleep apnea can be particularly dangerous. Many of them take a large assortment of drugs to help their condition but continue to deteriorate nevertheless. Shortness of breath and exhaustion become increasingly severe.

There does seem to be some hope on the horizon, though, for heart patients with sleep apnea. Use of a special breathing device as they slept by patients with heart failure resulted in dramatic improvements in their condition, far greater than what drugs could bring about.

Unfortunately, the biggest problem with sleep apnea is that most people who have it are not aware of it. The problem develops slowly, and its symptoms -- fatigue, high blood pressure, depression or impotence -- are easily attributed to other causes. Even snoring may not be a giveaway, as many people who snore do not have apnea, and many who have apnea do not snore. The method of diagnosis, which involves one or two nights in a sleep laboratory hooked up to machines, is-cumbersome and costs from $1,000 to $2,000.

However, researchers do encourage people to talk to their doctors about sleep apnea if they have any reason to believe they have it. The next time someone complains about your heavy snoring or tells you that you stop breathing in the night, ask for a referral to a sleep laboratory.

It may be important to your heart.