About half of people with diabetes experience sleep apnea, episodes of shallow or absent breathing while asleep.1Sleep apnea is not uncommon. It affects about 1 in 5 adults, whether they have diabetes or not. As with diabetes, many who have it don't know. Being overweight is likely to put someone in that 20% prevalence rate though.2 It's typically diagnosed by an overnight sleep test called a polysomnogram or "sleep study."
Disordered nighttime breathing is serious. Inadequate air flow to the lungs leads to decreased blood oxygen, which signals the brain to wake you up so you can breathe better. The cycle of falling asleep, disturbed air flow, and waking up - over and over - increases levels of stress hormones that raise heart rate and blood pressure.
Hypertension has been strongly and independently associated with sleep apnea in cohort studies. Behavioral problems, heart disease, and other elements of the metabolic syndrome (insulin resistance and blood glucose abnormalities) are also linked.2
What can you do? You don't have to be overweight to have sleep apnea, but if you are, losing weight lessens it. In upcoming posts I'll discuss other lifestyle changes you can make, including diet and, yes, throat exercises.
1 Prevalence Of Sleep Apnea In A Population Of Adults With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Endocrine Practice, 2007
2 Epidemiology Of Obstructive Sleep Apnea, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 2002
