Sleep Apnea and Mental Health in Kerrville, TX

Sleep Disorders, Like OSA, Are Linked to Mental Health

In the United States alone, doctors estimate that 50 to 70 million people have a sleep disorder that impedes their livelihood. These conditions can decrease productivity, hinder daily functioning, and affect your mental health.

People with a sleep disorder often report symptoms of mental health issues. But the relationship goes both ways — people who are looking to boost their mental health commonly complain about sleep problems, and sleep disorders can result in psychiatric complications.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea

One of the most common sleep disorders is called obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which causes frequent pauses in breathing during sleep. These pauses occur because of an obstruction in the upper airway — usually, the tongue or other soft tissues in the throat relax and cause the blockage.

Risk factors for OSA include obesity, smoking, genetics, and more. Researchers attribute sleep apnea with causing and exacerbating medical issues in people with severe mental illness, resulting in significantly shorter life spans. Treating sleep apnea can alleviate some of the strain associated with mental illnesses.

OSA and Mental Health

OSA often accompanies mental illness. The conditions that are most commonly affected include:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Bipolar disorder
• Schizophrenia
• Post-traumatic stress disorder

Anxiety

Anxiety is a mental health disorder that causes intense, excessive, and persistent fear about everyday situations. According to researchers, “the frequency of anxiety in OSA patients is higher than in the general population.” Because OSA causes the sufferer to wake up unexpectedly and short of breath, this can lead to an anxiety-inducing situation.

While OSA can affect anxiety, the impact can go the other way as well. For example, one of the symptoms of anxiety is excessive daytime sleepiness. That’s also a significant symptom of sleep apnea. When combined, these two conditions provoke each other and make sleeping nearly impossible.

Depression

Doctors have also linked OSA to depression. Depression is another mental illness that makes a person feel disinterested, guilty, or unmotivated. It can significantly impair your daily life, resulting in symptoms such as loss of appetite, depleted energy levels, lack of concentration, a change in behavior, or a decrease in self-esteem.

One of the links between OSA and depression is poor sleep maintenance, such as conditions like OSA. These conditions can irritate the symptoms of depression and cause an episode as a result. According to researchers, approximately 46% of people with OSA have or had depressive symptoms.

Schizophrenia

According to one study, an OSA diagnosis was found six times more often in patients with schizophrenia than other mental illnesses.

Sometimes, antipsychotic medications can increase a patient’s risk of experiencing an OSA episode. The medicine can cause restlessness, weight gain, and jaw, lips, and tongue movement. All of these can initiate the symptoms of sleep apnea and make an episode more likely.

Seeking Sleep Apnea Treatment Can Boost Your Mental Health

If you’ve been diagnosed with one of the mental illnesses above, we recommend that you visit Dr. Huff in Kerrville, TX. Whether you have a sleep apnea diagnosis or not, he can help you progress towards treatment.

While the most common form of sleep apnea treatment is continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), the restrictive, claustrophobic mask might exacerbate some of the symptoms and even evoke an episode.

For your convenience, we offer custom-fitted oral appliances that will make treating your sleep apnea comfortable, simple, and nearly noticeable. Please get the help you deserve — give us a call at 830-715-4484. Alternatively, you can fill out the submission form, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.