{"id":115,"date":"2020-12-22T19:47:09","date_gmt":"2020-12-22T19:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/?p=115"},"modified":"2020-12-29T19:47:25","modified_gmt":"2020-12-29T19:47:25","slug":"sleep-apnea-and-aging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/22\/sleep-apnea-and-aging\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Sleep Apnea Aging You During the Night?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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There\u2019s a difference\nbetween your chronological age and your biological age; the first is the number\nof years you\u2019ve been alive while the second is how old your body actually seems\nbased on changes in your chromosomes and other factors. Needless to say, having\na biological age that\u2019s significantly higher than your chronological age can be\nharmful for your health in the long run \u2013 and if you have a sleep disorder,\nyour body could be aging at an accelerated rate without you even realizing it.\nRead on to learn how recent studies have linked aging to sleep-disordered\nbreathing \u2013 and what you can do to protect yourself! <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

How Can Aging Be Linked to a Sleep Disorder?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A study<\/a>\npublished by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine looked at the biological\nage of patients shown to be suffering from sleep-disordered breathing. The\nresults found that the more severe sleep apnea became, the more it was\nassociated with hundreds of days of biological age acceleration. Moreover, the\naging effects tended to be stronger in women than men, despite the fact that\nwomen are generally considered to be at a lower risk for sleep apnea in\ngeneral. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Does Sleep Apnea Affect the Body?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sleep apnea occurs when there are frequent pauses in your\nbreathing while you\u2019re asleep. When left untreated, this leads to severe\nproblems with the quality of your sleep. Because your body will keep waking up\nfor air, you\u2019ll end up feeling exhausted during the day, and you\u2019re likely to\nsuffer from memory or concentration issues. Furthermore, there\u2019s evidence that\nthe decrease in blood oxygen levels (a natural consequence of having your\nbreathing interrupted) can lead to stem cell exhaustion and epigenetic changes\n\u2013 hallmarks of aging. Sleep-disordered breathing has also been linked to\nAlzheimer\u2019s Parkinson diseases, dementia, type 2 diabetes, and other diseases\ntypically linked to age. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Can You Do About Sleep Apnea?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s actually possible to reverse the effects of accelerated\naging, but to do so you need to get your sleep apnea under control. To do so,\nyou can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n