{"id":41,"date":"2019-08-26T20:47:52","date_gmt":"2019-08-26T20:47:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sleepsnoringtmj.com\/blog\/?p=41"},"modified":"2019-09-13T20:48:06","modified_gmt":"2019-09-13T20:48:06","slug":"dangers-of-interrupted-sleep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/2019\/08\/26\/dangers-of-interrupted-sleep\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Reasons Why Interrupted Sleep Can Be Dangerous"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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You wake up, check\nthe clock and, frustratingly, see that it\u2019s still the middle of the night. This\nhappens several times, and when morning finally comes, you\u2019re exhausted.\nUnfortunately, tiredness could be the least of your problems. Interrupted sleep\ncan have all sorts of negative effects on your mental and physical health \u2013\nespecially if it\u2019s a result of a disorder like sleep apnea. Here are 5\npotential dangers for frequent restless nights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

1. Decreased Cognitive Ability<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Your brain needs a full night of sleep to operate in peak\ncondition. If you keep waking up, your cognitive abilities (the speed of your\nthoughts and your attention span) will suffer. This can make driving incredibly\nrisky; you won\u2019t be able to react as quickly, which can cost you precious\nseconds if you need to brake suddenly. You\u2019ll also find that the quality of\nyour work will suffer, which could have dire consequences for your career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Memory Problems<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The deepest stage of sleep \u2013 also REM sleep \u2013 is the body\u2019s\nchance to consolidate the information the brain gathered during the day. In\nother words, sleep is essential for learning and long-term memory. However, you\ncan only reach the REM stage when your rest is uninterrupted. It doesn\u2019t matter\nhow much total time was spent asleep; if you keep waking up, you won\u2019t reap the\nfull benefits of the sleep cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Increased Risk of Alzheimer\u2019s<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Alzheimer\u2019s disease has been linked to amyloid proteins in\nthe brain. They get cleared away during a full night\u2019s sleep, but if your rest\nis interrupted every night, the proteins will start to build up, which could\nmake dementia more likely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Risk of Heart Attack<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If the cause of your frequent awakenings is sleep apnea \u2013 a\ncondition where breathing frequently stops during the night and forces the body\nto wake up briefly to resume airflow \u2013 your blood pressure could increase. This\nmakes it more likely that you could suffer from a heart attack, as well as\nother cardiovascular health issues such as stroke. The longer the condition\ngoes unaddressed, the more likely it is that your life could be in danger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Depression<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Predictably, waking up constantly during the night can put\nyou in a bad mood the next day. If this happens every night, your frequent\nnegative feelings to lead to clinical depression. This will greatly decrease\nyour quality of life and will likely become worse over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you think that you might have sleep apnea or another\ncondition that\u2019s keeping you up at night, talk to your sleep dentist; they can\npoint you in the right direction for a diagnosis and an effective treatment.\nFor the sake of your health, do whatever it takes to catch some zzz\u2019s!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the Author<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Mitch Conditt has over 30 years of dental experience and specializes in helping patients in Fort Worth suffering from sleep disorders and TMJ symptoms. He\u2019s a member of the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine and has plenty of experience using oral appliance therapy to treat sleep apnea. To schedule an appointment, visit his website<\/a> or call (817) 527-8500. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You wake up, check the clock and, frustratingly, see that it\u2019s still the middle of the night. This happens several times, and when morning finally comes, you\u2019re exhausted. Unfortunately, tiredness could be the least of your problems. Interrupted sleep can have all sorts of negative effects on your mental and physical health \u2013 especially if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43,"href":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions\/43"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}