Sleep apnea may sound like an ordinary disorder since it is a common condition but it can actually raise some concerning health issues and I’m here to share my knowledge about what sleep apnea can do.
So, can sleep apnea cause depression? Yes, sleep apnea can cause depression. Having sleep apnea can result in lack of sleep and sleep deprivation may lead to depression.
However, one interesting speculation with current studies states that it might be the other way around for some cases.
It can be that sleep apnea does not cause depression but rather, depression can cause sleep apnea. The logical explanation is because neurological conditions can disrupt brain functionality.
Our brain is responsible for sending signals to our body to function and breathe. So, it is entirely possible that depression can cause sleeping disorders such as sleep apnea since it clearly causes insomnia as well.
And insomnia is one of the factors that can cause sleep apnea. Anyway, let me tell you how sleep apnea works and how it causes depression in people.
When you are having a sleep apnea attack, your brain will exert a lot of effort to help you breathe. Since your body’s system is in a mess, it might force you to wake up to gasp for air that your body can’t process alone.
Sometimes, you may not notice that you woke up in the middle of the night gasping for air for a brief moment so you will not know about this at all.
However, this act alone can take away parts of your sleep and drain your body’s energy since your muscles are unable to relax because it’s trying to prevent you from dying in your sleep because of the inability to breathe.
Now, you will wake up tired and will have trouble staying awake in the morning. This will also reduce your ability to focus compared to having a good night’s rest.
All these conditions can definitely affect a person’s daily life and activities and if it doesn’t turn out well, it can end up causing neurological problems such as depression too.
Having any one of the two is not an easy situation but having both sleep apnea and depression can really be unhealthy and dangerous so the best thing to do is learn how to avoid it or totally prevent it through treatment.
How to cure sleep apnea and avoid depression
Although curing depression is a completely different process, if sleep apnea is the one causing it, then getting rid of sleep apnea will definitely lessen the severity of a person’s depression. Check out these treatments.
- Rapid Maxillary Expansion
- For children with obstructive sleep apnea. This process places an expandable brace on the roof of the mouth that increases the width of the upper jaw (maxilla).
- Over time, parents can adjust the brace using a special key to increase the amount of pressure for the teeth.
- Jaw Advancement Surgery
- For teenagers and adults. This process will surgically break the jaw bones, moved forward and then fixed properly with screws and plates and will change the person’s facial structure or profile.
- It might take months to recover.
- CPAP Machine Treatment
- Works for any age. Stands for “Continuous Positive Airway Pressure device”
- The person diagnosed will have to use a mask connected to a machine that will force air to the obstructed airway from the oropharyngeal.
- The mask placed over the mouth or nose will blow air into the airway to help keep it open during sleep. Highly recommended and proven effective by a majority of sleep apnea patient.
- Surgical Airway Advancement
- Similar to the 2nd example. Bones of the upper and lower jaw will be repositioned in a way that will relieve airway obstruction.
Even though children may not be prone to depression, letting the sleep apnea develop and be carried into adulthood will definitely expose them to risk of depression so as early as possible, fix the problem.
What happens if sleep apnea and depression are left untreated
The scary part of depression is the thought of the person losing themselves. Depression is not an easy condition that can be dealt with and may lead to life threatening situations which must be prevented.
But aside from depression, there are also a lot of other things that untreated sleep apnea can bring. These other effects of sleep apnea can also trigger depression if ignored.
- Heart failure
- May lead to fatal conditions such as brain damages or even death
- Heart attack
- Can also be severely threatening
- Irregular heartbeat
- Worsens the ability to breathe
- Can trigger anxiety, an old friend of depression
- Stroke
- Can leave permanent damage
- May lead to paralysis that will trigger depression
- Diabetes
- Leaves you prone to more heart attacks
- High Blood Pressure
- Aside from your physical health, this can also affect your mental health and relationship with people around you including your work
- Having uncontrollable high blood pressure due to sleep apnea can also trigger depression at any moment.
- Increases ADHD
- Sleep apnea reduces your ability to focus which is what happens when you have ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)
- Having a lack of control to focus can lead to frustration, which also leads to depression
- Headaches
- You may wake up with a bad headache which will lead to other problems listed here
- Lack of daily energy
- As mentioned, your energy will be reduced since you are unable to sleep well.
- Seizures
- Sleep apnea patients are more prone to seizures during sleep compared to epilepsy patients without sleep apnea.
The thing is, sleep apnea, if left untreated or worsened by other factors, can lead to death. Its risks can be fatal and leave permanent damage or mental health scars like depression which is what we are trying to avoid.
If diagnosed with sleep apnea, one must consider treating the problem as soon as possible in order to prevent any unwanted scenarios related to your health.
What are the signs of sleep apnea that can cause depression
One of the most common ways to identify sleep apnea is by conducting a “sleep study” wherein the patient will have to stay in a center where doctors and nurses would be observing their sleeping habits.
Not only the sleeping behavior, but other factors that could be a sign of sleep apnea as well. Here’s a list of sleep apnea signs to watch out for if you are not ready to go for a sleep study yet.
- Heavy snoring
- Maybe, it can be a sign of fatigue but snoring loudly and usually can be a sign of sleep apnea.
- Gasping for air during sleep
- The feeling of drowning without knowing it and suddenly you’re out of air.
- Insomnia
- Having trouble going to sleep because you have breathing problems that you may not notice
- Insomnia can lead to depression
- Hypersomnia
- Having trouble staying awake in the morning because you were unable to sleep well due to your sleep apnea
- Hypersomnia can also lead to depression for some cases
- Waking up with a headache
- Sleep apnea can disturb your body’s “charging” state. Since you can’t sleep well, your body will use energy for means that can help you breathe which may lead to headaches.
- Waking up with a dry mouth
- With sleep apnea, the person tends to snore and keep their mouth open when gasping for air which leads to a dried up mouth once we awaken.
- Decreased ability to focus
- Sleep apnea can give lack of sleep which will also result in difficulty to focus on anything
- Feeling uncomfortable
- Your lack of energy due to sleep apnea can make you feel uncomfortable and irritable without your knowledge
- Suddenly stop breathing during sleep
- Your housemates should notice this and tell you about it. Sleep apnea can disrupt breathing that may last for up to 10 seconds which is already risky.
There are three types of sleep apnea that you may be diagnosed with.
- Obstructive sleep apnea
- The most common sleep apnea that can be present in all ages. When the breathing is obstructed due to various factors, is it because of obstructive sleep apnea which may require surgery
- Central sleep apnea
- When your brain fails to send the proper signals to your body to command it to “breathe”, it is because of central sleep apnea
- Complex sleep apnea syndrome
- This is the combination of the first two sleep apneas and also poses higher risks than a normal obstructed sleep apnea.
- It may also be more difficult to treat this not knowing the major cause of the condition
The risk of having sleep apnea plus depression is too great and it must be cured as early as possible.
What other factors cause sleep apnea that can cause depression
There are other things that can cause sleep apnea, learning about these factors can help you prevent sleep apnea and potentially reduce the risk of having depression.
- Obesity
- Can make breathing difficult even while asleep or not moving
- Hypothyroidism
- The condition wherein your body does not produce enough thyroid hormones, which is needed to control how to use energy received from food through metabolism. Bad metabolism can affect heartbeat and breathing.
- Acromegaly
- Opposite of hypothyroidism, acromegaly produces too much growth hormones which can affect your overall health including breathing.
- Allergies
- There are certain allergies that can worsen sleep apnea. Allergies that result with difficulty in breathing are the likes.
- Smoking cigarettes
- Excessive smoking can cause sleep apnea or worsen it
- Drinking liquor
- Too much liquor and drinking before going to sleep can cause sleep apnea.
- Drug usage
- Sedations or other types of drugs especially when being abused can result in sleep apnea or worse.
- Being male
- Observations reveal that males tend to have sleep apnea more than females
- Being old
- Observations also revealed that older adults are more prone to sleep apnea than younger ones due to more complicated health issues that may trigger sleep apnea
Other natural causes of sleep apnea can be a thick neck, narrow throat and having a round head. Avoid triggering your allergies or get medications for other conditions to reverse your sleep apnea.
Related Questions
- Does sleep apnea go away?
Unfortunately, sleep apnea does not go away on its own for most cases. Usually, it requires surgical procedures to get rid of it.
However, if there are causes that can be prevented that will get rid of sleep apnea, then sleep apnea can “go away by itself” in a sense.
For example, drinking too much liquor especially before going to sleep can trigger sleep apnea. If you stop drinking liquor, you can avoid sleep apnea and thus it will “go away” without the need fo surgeries.
- Can sleep apnea cause mental problems?
Yes, apart from depression, sleep apnea can also cause other mental problems.
However, there are speculations stating that it can be the mental health problems that are causing sleep apnea, not the other way around.
It is entirely up to the medical professionals to examine a patient suspecting sleep apnea and mental problems to diagnose the patient properly.
If the origin is a mental problem, the focus will be on treating the mental problem. If the origin is the sleep apnea, then most likely, a surgery to fix sleep apnea may be performed to treat the mental problem.
Either way, both conditions will be treated as soon as the patient has been diagnosed properly.
