Sleep apnea can cause anxiety, but not all cases of anxiety are due to sleep apnea. The connection between the two disorders can be described through several concepts, including: psychological stress, sleep disruption, and effects on brain function among others.
Sleep apnea causes both physical and psychological effects. For instance, it’ll leave you feeling exhausted, confused, and sleepy during the day and for some anxiety about going to sleep and the many issues that are associated with nighttime breathing.
Some of the common psychological effects of sleep apnea include a lack of concentration, depression, mood swings, and brain fog. One of the major concerns about this sleep disorder is its association with anxiety and panic attacks.
In this article, we’ll discuss the link between sleep apnea and anxiety and why you should try a new solution to support breathing and sleep at night when you have sleep apnea.
How Is Anxiety Related to Sleep Apnea?
Here are some reasons why sleep apnea could be the reason you’re feeling anxious or experiencing panic attacks:
Stress
Sleep apnea causes recurring incidents of low levels of oxygen and high levels of carbon dioxide in your blood. This triggers stress response processes in your body like the flight-or-fight response (sympathetic nervous system activation), resulting in increased anxiety.
Can sleep apnea cause headaches? Unfortunately, it can. Reduced levels of oxygen in your blood can result in secondary headaches like high-altitude headaches (HAH) and headaches caused by serious mountain sickness. Furthermore, too much CO2 in your blood causes headaches, shortness of breath, and daytime sleepiness. Not to mention that poorer sleep quality due to frequent interruptions can lead to headaches as well.
Disrupted Sleep
Recurrent sleep disruptions caused by less oxygen getting to the brain and other organs lead to poor sleep quality. This can be related to abnormal brain signaling, as in central apnea events, or to airway blockage, as in obstructive apnea events.
Either way, lack of oxygen to vital organs stresses out the body, which is why people often wake up with a rapid heart rate and feeling fear or anxiety. Repeated disruptions can even train the body to be on high alert. These disruptions in oxygen can eventually lead to anxiety and even mood swings.
You might feel nervous or fearful before you go to bed every night because you’re not sure if you’ll get enough rest. The experience of waking up gasping for air due to airway obstruction can also make you anxious.
Poor Brain Function
Disrupted sleep and oxygen deficiency can negatively impact your cognitive functioning, affecting critical areas of your brain, especially those involved in regulating your moods and processing emotions.
This leaves you more susceptible to anxiety and other psychological issues. In extreme cases, a lack of oxygen in your blood can damage your brain. Signs of brain damage include memory problems, poor concentration, and mood swings. Some people describe effects as brain fog or a foggy brain that tends to fluctuate in severity and depends on how well they sleep the night before.
Related Disorders
Anxiety can cause various sleep problems like difficulty falling asleep, inability to stay asleep, and insomnia. In turn, these sleep disorders will make your anxiety worse, leading to a never-ending cycle of sleep apnea and anxiety. Both types of conditions can aggravate each other.
Other Common Symptoms of Sleep Apnea
There are many misconceptions about sleep apnea‒mainly because it presents the same symptoms as other sleep disorders like insomnia. The best way to distinguish sleep apnea from other sleep disorders is the sounds involved.
So, what does sleep apnea sound like? Here are the most common sounds associated with sleep apnea:
- Loud snoring: This is a croaky sound or a whistling noise that happens when you attempt to breathe in and out of blocked airways.
- Gasping or choking: When your airways are blocked, you’ll wake up gasping for air. This is very startling and a major cause of anxiety as you wake up struggling to breathe.
- Snorting: You may snort as you try to open your airway and start breathing again. This occurs frequently when you have sleep apnea.
- Lack of sound: When you don’t have the right signals from your brain to breathe as in central sleep apnea or your airway is completely blocked and no air passes, this can lead to prolonged silence when there’s no breathing.
The Bottom Line
Supporting sleep apnea is a multifaceted process that can involve addressing breathing and sleep in a variety of ways. Most people start with a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine.
Whether you use a CPAP, there can be incredible benefits to support breathing and sleep naturally. The Sleep Apnea Solution book gets into the breathing routines and other natural methods Dylan Petkus, MD and the people he’s worked with have found to be most effective.
