Being overweight can cause various health conditions such as high cholesterol, hypertension and sleep apnea. You can develop two different types of sleep apnea, but the kind associated with weight is called obstructive sleep apnea, and it's the most common of the two types. The other type is central sleep apnea, which normally only occurs when your brain fails to send signals to muscles that help control your breathing.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when your throat muscles become relaxed, causing your airway to become blocked. Being overweight can contribute to obstructive sleep apnea, especially when you have a thick, or fat, neck. The fat can compress, or narrow, your airway, limiting the amount of oxygen you receive while sleeping.
Your Weight
MayoClinic.com reports that if you have a neck circumference greater than 17 inches, your risk increases for developing obstructive sleep apnea. A neck circumference of that size or larger can indicate excess fat deposits around your neck. Your neck circumference will depend upon your height and weight, since weight distribution widely varies depending upon height. While those who are overweight are at a greater risk of developing obstructive sleep apnea, thin people can also develop obstructive sleep apnea.
Symptoms
Symptoms of sleep apnea include loud snoring and gasping for air. You may also feel drowsy throughout the day. You may experience episodes of breathing cessation multiple times throughout the night. Most individuals who have not been diagnosed with sleep apnea are unaware their sleep was disturbed throughout the night and believe they received a good night's rest despite daytime drowsiness. Your mouth may be dry and you may experience a sore throat. Morning headaches, difficulty falling asleep and problems staying asleep may also indicate sleep apnea.
Solution
Losing weight can help decrease the size of your neck circumference to reduce the amount of fat deposits surrounding your airway, which can help eliminate sleep apnea. While you're trying to lose weight, your doctor may prescribe a continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, machine. A CPAP machine breathes air for you at night while you sleep, forcing oxygen into your airways with just the right amount of pressure to keep them open. Your health care provider will determine the amount of pressure to use based upon lab results from sleep studies that you will undergo.
References
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Sleep Apnea
- MayoClinic.com: Sleep Apnea: Definition
- MayoClinic.com: Sleep Apnea: Symptoms
- MayoClinic.com: Sleep Apnea: Causes
- MayoClinic.com: Sleep Apnea: Risk Factors
- "Sleep Apnea: Pathogenesis, Diagnosis, and Treatment"; Allan I. Pack; 2002
