Sleep-Disordered Breathing Tied to Lower Exercise Capacity and High Blood Pressure
Sleep-Disordered Breathing Tied to Lower Exercise Capacity and High Blood Pressure
Research continues to verify the important of regular sleep on the rest of your body. Sleep-disordered breathing is associated with lower exercise capacity and increased blood pressure. Sleep-disordered breathing is characterized by pauses in breathing or decreased quantity of ventilation during sleep. It can disrupt your sleep by increasing the amount of time you spend awake at night. It has also been proven that neurocognitive activity is lowered during your waking hours. As more research is conducted, it is more apparent that sleep-disordered breathing affects your health in more ways than one. A study conducted by the Mayo Clinic and published in The American Journal of Cardiology. Almost 1500 adult patients were evaluated between 2004 and 2010. The study was conducted to examine the association between sleep-disordered breathing and exercise testing. Each patient’s exercise capacity and cardiovascular response was tested. The recovery from exercise was also recorded.
Patients with severe sleep-disordered breathing had a significantly lower functional aerobic capacity and heart rate recovery. Generally, this means a person with sleep-disordered breathing has a lower exercise capacity. A lower aerobic capacity means the body’s ability to meet oxygen needs is lowered. Aerobic capacity included all types of breathing, at rest and during exercise. The cycle of sleeping less and exercising less can lead to obesity. Obesity is associated with severe health problems including heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers.
Another impact of sleep-disordered breathing is that patients had significantly higher resting, peak, and post-exercise blood pressure. The authors of the study wrote that blood pressure was increased “even after accounting for confounders”. High blood pressure can lead to severe health issues like heart attack, stroke, heart failure, weakened blood vessels in your kidneys, aneurysms, or even memory loss. While blood pressure naturally fluctuates, having high blood pressure at rest, peak, and post-exercise can seriously impact your health.
Diagnosing and treating your sleep-disordered breathing is important to your health, both at night and during the day. Those receiving treatment for this debilitating disorder can benefit with better rest, increased memory, higher aerobic capacity, and more regular blood pressure. By increasing your sleep quality, you can increase your ability to exercise and regulate your weight. Serious health problems can be avoided or controlled through the regulation of your sleep.
It is also worth noting that this study may increase the funding of medical devices created for sleep disorders. More innovations for sleep disorders lead to innovations for patients.
FusionSleep is the leader in sleep disorder diagnosis and treatment and we are ready to help you or your loved ones with sleep conditions. Contact us today to schedule a consultation.