The Curious Connection Between Anxiety and Sleep Apnea

If you wake up feeling groggy and unrested most mornings, there’s a chance you could be suffering from sleep apnea! This condition affects millions of patients, and unfortunately, its cause isn’t always easily discernable as there are often many different factors at work. However, one known contributing factor is anxiety; sure enough, feeling stressed, anxious, or tense at night can physically prevent your body from getting the rest it needs. Here’s more from your dentist about the link between sleep apnea and anxiety, along with some tips to help you get back to bed.

Breaking Down Sleep Apnea and Anxiety

To understand the connection between these two conditions, it’s important to distinguish how each one affects your body. Sleep apnea is a disorder that’s characterized by your breathing repeatedly starting and stopping during sleep. It might be widespread and sound somewhat harmless, but if left untreated this condition can lead to some pretty serious consequences including stress, fatigue, hypertension, and even heart disease and diabetes. Anxiety disorders, on the other hand, are often the result of your body responding to stress or some other type of trigger. Feeling anxious while in a stressful environment is a normal response; but if you’re continually feeling down, worried, or stressed out on a regular basis, it can make daily life—as well as falling asleep—quite challenging.

The Link Between Sleep Apnea and Anxiety

If these two conditions sound related, they do share some similarities and are loosely linked. In fact, one very common side effect of both sleep apnea and anxiety is insomnia, or the inability to fall/stay asleep. However, when trying to trace which condition is the root source of your sleeping problems, you might encounter a chicken-or-the-egg type of scenario: “Is anxiety causing your sleep apnea, or is sleep apnea contributing towards your anxiety?”

During a sleep apnea episode, the brain receives a panic signal, which then causes the body to jolt awake to normalize breathing. But suddenly waking up like this over and over again causes you to accumulate “sleep debt” which is then compounded with each passing night that your sleep apnea causes sleep disruption. This sleep deficit makes it more difficult for your brain to cope with stress, and it can also alter the neurochemicals within it that help to regulate how you feel throughout the day. Over time, this can also lead to hypertension (elevated blood pressure) that causes physiological health issues.

Tips for Getting a Better Night’s Sleep

Luckily, both of these conditions have manageable symptoms and treatment is possible. Here are some tips to help:

• Seek sleep apnea treatment – If diagnosed by a sleep doctor, treatment options include things like oral appliances, lip and tongue ties, and CPAP machines. Studies have shown that treating sleep apnea can reduce anxiety symptoms, too!
• Address other causes of sleep disruption – Sometimes your bedroom can be too hot or cold, too bright, or have too much dandruff, all of which can affect your breathing and ability to sleep.
• Manage your anxiety – If you’re experiencing anxiety that stems from reasons other than sleep apnea, you should seek treatment and take healthy steps to manage your condition and avoid the possibility of sleep apnea-related consequences.

If you’re concerned about the quality of your sleep and suspect that sleep apnea or anxiety might be playing a role, don’t hesitate to speak with your sleep dentist about treatment options and ensure that you’re doing what you can to manage your stress.

About the Author

Dr. Dan Rairigh received his dental doctorate from the West Virginia University School of Dentistry and is an active member of several professional organizations including the prestigious Academy of General Dentistry. His practice is proud to offer a wide range of services including sleep apnea therapy. If you have any questions about sleep apnea or would like to arrange a visit, you can contact Dr. Rairigh through his website or over the phone for assistance: (412) 854-2310.