There are three main reliable clinical symptoms if you have sleep apnea: snoring, high blood pressure symptoms and witnessed apneas.
We talked about snoring and apneas events, and now it's time to speak a little about high blood pressure or hypertension.
About 50% of sleep apnea patients are hypertensive, and almost 30% of hypertensive patients also have sleep apnea, often undiagnosed.
Several studies have demonstrated clear evidence that implicates sleep apnea in the development of high blood pressure symptoms. More specifically, the severity of hypertension was found to progressively increase with severity of obstructive sleep apnea.
Here are the mechanisms that link OSA with hypertension:
the stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system through episodes of apnea.
In other words, when you have apnea episodes in your sleep, you will stop breathing and your level of oxygen from your blood will drop substantially. This mechanism will increase sympathetic activity that directly elevate the blood pressure.
Poorer quality of sleep and shorter sleep periods raise de level of blood pressure.
Hypoxemia or low blood oxygen is a mechanism that appears to be important for triggering hypertension, even if you are a healthy person (when you are at high altitude, on the mountain).
excess of body weight
excess dietary sodium intake
excess alcohol intake
reduced physical activity
inadequate intake of fruits, vegetables, and potassium
Treatments of high blood pressure symptoms
You need to treat hypertension as soon as possible, because you will have other health problems to be solved, such as: cardiovascular disease,
congestive heart failure,
chronic kidney disease,
stroke
, and others.
Is obvious that time is not on your side, because most of these problems are deadly.
In this movie you will learn more about hypertension and how it affects your health:
If you have sleep apnea, you should be careful when you try to treat hypertension. Recent reports suggest that some drugs used for treating high blood pressure symptoms may worsen your sleep disorder, which decreases after discontinuation of the drug.
So, the best solution for a person with sleep apnea, to fight and treat hypertension, is to use
CPAP
. Yes! It's simple and without drugs.
Sustained and effective treatment of sleep apnea with CPAP or continuous positive airway pressure, has been reported to acutely decrease the levels of high blood pressure symptoms and sympathetic traffic during sleep.
But what should you do if you can't tolerate CPAP?
Well, oral appliances that effectively attenuate your obstructive sleep apnea also may lower your blood pressure.
Also, there are some antihypertensive drugs that can lower hypertension, but there are too dangerous for your health. You may worsen your sleep apnea. Talk with your doctor about this before taking any medication.
The way that I like it and recommend is to make life-style modification, such as:
avoid salty and sodium-rich foods as often as you can. Salt makes you more thirsty and if you drink too much water, you might experience fluid overload that will increase your blood pressure.
try to stay cool and avoid staying under the sun too much for the same reason that this would make you want to drink more.
weight loss is a good idea, if you are overweight or obese person
moderate alcohol intake of no more than two drinks per day
Avoid fatty and deep fried foods, as well as those that are high in cholesterol. Not only it will trigger your blood pressure to rise significantly but will also put you at risk with stroke and heart attack.
increase your physical activity such as brisk walking for at least 30 minutes for about 5 days/week
smoking cessation to improve cardiovascular health
The benefits of all these life-style modification include lowering your blood pressure and reduction of cardiovascular risks. It's difficult to change, but with determination and faith you will be a normal and healthy person, as I am now.
There are three main reliable clinical symptoms if you have sleep apnea: snoring, high blood pressure symptoms and witnessed apneas.
