Weight Gain Sleep Apnea
From LoveToKnow Sleep
Do you know the correlation weight gain, sleep apnea have on each other? Both are very serious health problems. Many people don't realize just how important good sleep is to maintaining health, including maintaining a healthy weight. Overweight individuals can suffer from health complications including sleep apnea.
Weight Gain Sleep Apnea Relationship
Sleep is a normal, necessary function of the body. Without enough sleep, the brain is unable to perform necessary tasks with clarity. The body requires sleep to help it to mend the body. A lack of sleep can lead to a variety of health conditions, including emotional and physical illness, fatigue and even weight gain.
Being Overweight Can Cause Sleep Apnea
One way that this correlation between weight gain and sleep apnea relates is in overweight people. Those who are overweight are more likely to suffer from a serious illness called sleep apnea. Sleep apnea patients wake up many times during the night, often without realizing, frequently due to a blocked airway. The airway often has blockage by the excess tissue around the neck and throat region, which is common in overweight people.
In this situation, being overweight can lead to sleep apnea. What is also important to point out is that doctors have determined that those that are suffering from sleep apnea are also prone to weight gain. This may occur because they are unable to enter the deeper levels of sleep.
Lack of Sleep Causes Hormone Irregularities
Another correlation between a lack of sleep, and in particular sleep apnea, and weight gain has to do with the body's ability to produce hormones. Hormones regulate every movement and change in the body. Two are very important to maintaining a healthy weight:
- Leptin
- Grehlin
These hormones regulate the body's need to gain and lose weight and also regulate the appetite. One unique aspect about them is that they are both affected by a lack of sleep. Leptin works to suppress the appetite while Grehlin works to increase the appetite. The second can also stop you from losing weight (part of the starvation prevention mechanism within your body.)
If a person who is suffering from a sleep disorder like sleep apnea notices weight gain, it could be the result of fluctuations with these hormones. When a person does not get enough sleep, the amount of Grehlin in your body increases. This makes you hungrier. At the same time, Leptin levels decrease. The body and mind then feel there is a need to eat more. This leads to weight gain.
What is important to note is that even through good diet and exercise, a person who has a severe sleep disorder such as sleep apnea can in fact gain weight. Therefore, it becomes important for them to seek out the attention of their doctor. By managing the sleep apnea first, the person may be able to improve their diet and exercise enough to lose the excess weight. In turn, the weight loss will also help improve the sleep apnea, sometimes even reversing it.
Getting Help
Those who suffer from weight gain, sleep apnea or other sleep disorders need medical help. Careful management of your diet and lifestyle, along with getting better sleep can improve your weight. Weight gain and sleep apnea can cause a variety of complications include increased risks for heart disease, high blood pressure and even heart failure.
Doctors will determine if you are suffering from sleep apnea through a sleep study. If this is the case, your doctor may recommend the use of specially-designed devices called CPAP machines which will help to keep the airways open. This can greatly improve the amount and quality of sleep you get. Quality sleep may lead to improved management of the hormones that control hunger.
In addition, diet and exercise is often recommended by doctors. To overcome sleep apnea, you may need to lose weight so that the tissues around the air passageways are less constricted. Surgery is sometimes an option for patients who are suffering from severe levels of this condition.
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This page has been accessed 1,831 times. This page was last modified 15:45, 5 June 2009.
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