How Untreated Sleep Apnea Affects Your Physical Health

If you have one night of poor sleep, you can expect to spend the next day feeling sluggish. When you continue to go without proper rest, your physical and emotional health can be impacted in several ways. It is important for people at risk for sleep apnea to understand that the condition is more than just a snoring problem – when it affects you, it intrudes on your ability to enjoy a sufficient amount of rest. Throughout the night, you will experience interruptions in your breathing that force your body out of the rest cycle to address blocked airways. Over time, this interference will raise your risk for serious health problems by affecting your blood pressure and heart rate. Our Livonia, MI clinic is prepared to assess your sleep troubles, and if necessary recommend treatment for sleep apnea!

Sleep Apnea Is More Than Just Trouble With Snoring

Snoring can stand out as a symptom of sleep apnea. After all, if you have a partner, they can have little trouble recognizing that you are having trouble with snoring. What you should do is recognize that this problem is doing more than just causing you to make noise while you sleep. Because the problem prohibits you from staying asleep through the night, you can start to show signs of prolonged sleep deprivation. You can experience emotional difficulties, issues with low energy, and physical ailments. Those ailments can range from a frequent sore throat or issues with headaches in the morning to worrying problems with your heart.

The Physical And Emotional Toll Of Sleep Deprivation

Sleep apnea can make people susceptible to high blood pressure, which can make you more vulnerable to serious heart problems. This issue, as well as a problem with an irregular heartbeat, can make sleep apnea a particularly serious problem. Over time, going without enough rest can also hurt you by affecting your ability to focus, causing you to feel irritable, making you sluggish, and even raising your risk for falling asleep at inopportune times.

Finding The Right Treatment For Sleep Apnea

If a sleep apnea assessment determines that you are struggling with this condition, we can recommend a procedure to restore your appropriate rest. Through the use of an oral appliance, you can keep your airways clear while you rest. The appliance adjusts your jaw so that your breathing passages are not blocked, providing a simple means of restoring your proper sleep. We can also recommend the use of a CPAP machine when appropriate to help people stay asleep throughout the night.

Learn How Sleep Apnea Can Be Treated At Our Livonia, MI Clinic

If it is not being properly managed, an issue with sleep apnea can take a serious toll on your oral health. If you wish to find out more, please contact your Livonia, MI, dentist, Dr. Stewart, by calling (734) 425-4400.