Causes of Sleep Disorders - Overweight

Being overweight is a very dangerous health problem.

Overweight can lead to back problems, you have very little energy, and your clothes don’t fit.

Some overweight people will have low self esteem and have tried every diet known to man and have still failed to lose weight.

Overweight can also result in to serious health problems such as heart problems and high blood pressure. On top of that even sleeping is a dangerous task. One of the most dangerous problems associated with obesity is sleep apnea.

Sleep Apnea

The technical definition of sleep apnea is the body temporarily stops breathing. Sometimes this cessation of breathing is not permanent and you can suffocate in your sleep.

Sleep apnea is a medical condition that can result in death if not properly treated. The disorder involves the repeated collapse of the windpipe, which causes a sleeper to awaken slightly due to shortness of breath.

People who suffer from sleep apnea often experience daytime drowsiness, poor performance at work and depression. One of the most common and most frightening effects is that you literally stop breathing when this happens.

This is caused by something blocking the airway to the lungs; usually excess tissue in the mouth or throat, your tongue, over sized tonsils, and the relaxing and constricting of airway muscles. Excess weight on the throat and chest can attribute to these complications.

If you are already asleep, your body is already passed out. Your body has to do the exact opposite: wake you up. This conflicts with the body’s original defense. This is why so many people die from sleep apnea.

Here are list of some of the side effects of sleep apnea

• Loud snoring- This is the most common side effect of sleep apnea. This is not just your average snore, this is a loud, deep, wake the dead, snore. You may not hear it, but it is probably a safe bet that your bed partner will notice and make you aware of it.
• Non-refreshing sleep Upon waking you felt as though you have not gotten any sleep. This is caused by your REM sleep cycle being continually interrupted by your body trying to wake you up when you stop breathing. You may not remember actively waking, but your body does wake itself up so you will start breathing again. Your body gets its rest during REM sleep and if this is interrupted, you will not get any useful rest.
• Morning headaches - Upon waking you have a splitting headache. Sometimes these can progress to migraines. This is the result of a lack of oxygen to the brain.
• High blood pressure - This is caused by your body not getting enough rest. Without enough rest your body can not properly regulate your heart, therefore causing blood pressure issues.
• Dry mouth upon awakening -This is caused by breathing through your mouth. The air in the room dries out your salivary glands.
• Change in personality - Once you have had several nights of not getting any good sleep, you will become irritable, and your personality will start to change. You will not have the energy to socialize the way you used to. People will think you are mean and rude when you don’t mean to be.
• Irritability - Let’s face it, when you did not get a good night sleep, anyone can be a bit cranky.
• Excessive perspiring during sleep - there is just no real nice way to say this, but if you are obese, you have some extra blanketing there that keeps you hot.
• Difficulty concentrating - Due to the lack of oxygen to your brain, you will have a number of head problems including headaches. It’s because of these that most people have a difficult time concentrating.
• Reduced libido - Your body has not gotten good sleep in a while. Sometime it feels like you are running on empty. Your chemical make up is not at 100%. Your hormones are not properly regulated. Your libido is directly controlled by hormones in the blood.
• Heartburn - If you eat before sleeping, you will place a lot of weight on your stomach, this can lead to had heartburn when you wake up.
• Restless sleep - You keep waking up in the night from not breathing, so you can’t get comfortable. You don’t get much sleep.
• Frequent nocturnal urination - Your body is more concerned with keeping you alive than it is with keeping your bladder from loosing control. Some psychologist will even argue that wetting yourself is a subconscious way of making your self wake up.
• Death - Your body will do everything in its power to wake you up to start breathing again. Sometimes it fails at waking you up, so you suffocate on your own body and die.
• Nocturnal snorting, gasping, choking . This is a direct result of not breathing. This is how your body wakes you up to start breathing.

Experts say that sleep apnea occurs when muscles in a person’s throat relax excessively during sleep. Once diagnosed, treatment can help prevent or reverse the symptoms.

These treatments can include sleep position training, weight loss, exercise, quitting smoking, avoiding alcohol, using special oral or nasal appliances, or surgery.

Sleep apnea does occasionally occur in thin patients, but generally it is only a condition that occurs in overweight people. Very rarely does a smaller patient have the disorder.

Snoring

Loud snoring is another sleep disorder that is caused due to overweight. This is not deadly unless you are sleeping with someone else. The snoring won’t kill you, but your bed partner may.

The more overweight you are they harder and louder you snore. This is because the more overweight you are, the more your airways are being blocked. The snoring will lighten or go away if you lose some weight.

Heartburn

Heartburn is another sleep disorder common among overweight people, although not as deadly. Gastro esophageal reflux, or heartburn, is recognized by burning chest pain.

Another typical symptom is a sensation of food coming back into the mouth with a bitter, acidic taste. This disorder can also be accompanied by asthmatic breathing, coughing and hoarseness.

Occasionally, gastro esophageal reflux can mimic the symptoms of a heart attack, and is often mistaken for one. This disorder is caused by acid “backing up” into the esophagus during sleep. This is easily treatable with medication.

You can easily eliminate these three sleep disorders by losing weight and creating good eating habits. Losing weight is not only good for your health; it is good for your sleep as well. The more weight you lose the better.

You will notice your sleep becomes more restful as you lose weight. You will breath easier when sleeping. You will awake feeling rested instead of tired. Your partner will stop hitting you to stop snoring. Your heartburn will go away.

You won’t have back problems. You won’t wake up sweaty. Your dreams will even seem more productive. Most people don’t realize that their weight can be a danger to them even in sleep.