Sleep Apnea and Pulmonary Hypertension

Sleep apnea stinks. For many reasons. You wake up in the middle of the night gasping for breath. You sound like a lumber yard of snores while you sleep, and you keep up your family members in the process. (Cue waking up in the morning to a house full of sleep deprived, salty people all fighting for the coffee pot.) You’re left fatigued, absent-minded, and lethargic day after day. Now, all of that is is rough. But there’s more.

Did you know that there are more consequences to sleep apnea than being in a bad mood from lack of sleep? One of these consequences can be pulmonary hypertension. Ever heard of it?

Pulmonary Hypertension

According to a 2004 American College of Chest Physicians consensus panel, between 17% and 53% of patients who suffer from sleep apnea also develop pulmonary hypertension. Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is increased pressure in the pulmonary arteries. (The pulmonary arteries are the ones that carry blood from your heart to your lungs to pick up oxygen.) Which you kind of need to breathe well. What happens with PH is that these important arteries become narrow and thickened. This makes the heart work much harder to pump blood.

How is sleep apnea connected to pulmonary hypertension? Great question.

What an Apnea Is

Sleep apnea can increase pulmonary artery pressure. This happens because of the repeating loss of oxygen in the bloodstream. Oxygen loss sounds kinda bad. To understand this connection between sleep apnea, blood oxygen loss, and pulmonary hypertension, it is important to know what an apnea is.

An apnea is a 10-second (or longer) cease in breathing which causes blood oxygen to drop. When this happens a lot, this can lead to a lot of loss of blood oxygen. It can also cause levels of carbon dioxide to rise in the blood as well. The combination of low blood oxygen and high carbon dioxide in the blood overtax the cardiopulmonary system, causing it to weaken.

Studies show that another unfortunate side effect of sleep apnea and PH is that the body isn’t able to rest and heal itself. When you’re able to get that recommended full eight hours of beautiful sleep, your body can heal any damages all the way down to the cellular level.

However, this kind of deep sleep can only happen during long periods of uninterrupted sleep. Sleep apnea clearly prevents this kind of deep sleep. Sleep apnea is not always the direct cause of pulmonary hypertension. However, the two disorders can be connected, due to the way sleep apnea affects oxygen levels during the night. Again, getting PH may be a possibility, but it is NOT a certainty because you have sleep apnea.

If you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea and you’re concerned that you may also be at risk for pulmonary hypertension, head on over to the doctor.