Treating Sleep Apnea Could Improve Your Daytime Activity Levels
Why should you treat your obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)? Many people who have been diagnosed, or who suspect that they might have it, don’t immediately see the benefits of treating what can seem like “just a snoring problem.”
Even those that understand that treating sleep apnea can lengthen your life and help make you healthier may find those benefits too abstract to take action.
But in addition to high-level, long-term health benefits, treating your sleep apnea can also improve the overall quality of your day-to-day life, starting tomorrow. In addition to helping patients with issues like daytime drowsiness, memory issues, and irritability, a researchers now believe that treating OSA can also increase daytime activity levels, giving those who comply with treatment a richer and better life along with healthier heart and lungs.
A new sleep apnea study, published in the latest issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, has found that sleep apnea patients who comply with CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) treatment engage in more physical activity than those who go untreated.
The international study involved over 2,600 participants, all of who had diagnosed heart disease and diagnosed sleep apnea. Half of the participants, who ranged in age from 45-75, were given regular heart health care, while the other half were given the same care plus CPAP therapy. All participants reported their physical activity to the study authors at six months, two years, and four years.
There was no specific exercise intervention for either group, who used the the Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire to convey their activity levels to researchers.
The results were significant. The group who consistently treated their sleep apnea reported 20% higher amounts of moderate physical activity than the group who simply lived with their sleep apnea. The treated group were also more likely to achieve the amount of exercise recommended by doctors and health experts.
“We were pleased to find that our CPAP users reported that they were better able to maintain their levels of activity over the four years of the study, and that they reported fewer limitations in moderate and vigorous activities including those that are important for independent aging, like walking up the stairs,” said study co-author Kelly Loffler, a research fellow at the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health at Flinders University in Australia.
The study shows that treating sleep apnea goes far beyond getting more restful sleep, or logging more consistent hours of sleep at night. People who confront their sleep apnea diagnosis head-on will improve their overall quality of life, by giving themselves the energy and ability to stay active and engage in their lives.
Furthermore, being able to stay active and exercise comes with an entirely other set of health benefits, including heart health, lung health, and mental health. Since all participants were also heart patients, integrating more exercise and activity into their days and lives should have measurable effects on their heart health and future coronary events as well.
“CPAP represents a useful tool to assist health care providers caring for populations with comorbidities and combined with lifestyle interventions like diet and targeted exercise will likely provide many users with a symptomatic benefit that goes beyond their reported sleep,” said Loffler.
Surgical sleep solutions for sleep apnea
While this new study focuses on the use of CPAP for treating sleep apnea, it suggests that any effective treatment for sleep apnea would result in increased daytime activity and boosted health. For those who have had difficulty complying with CPAP usage, for any number of reasons, other treatment options are available.
At Surgical Sleep Solutions, we give you back your days by improving the quality of sleep you get at night. Contact us today to learn more about if a surgical treatment for your sleep apnea could be right for you.