The Link between Sleep Apnea and Your Mental Health
Sleep apnea and your physical health are intertwined. Your mental health also has a similar link to sleep apnea. The lack of sleep can worsen chronic mental conditions. In addition, some versions of mental disorders like depression might result from sleep deprivation.
Living with sleep apnea is challenging because the condition leaves you waking up in the morning feeling tired and groggy, besides struggling to get through the day. You might find yourself relieved to get in bed during bedtime. However, sleep apnea wakes you up repeatedly, disallowing you from getting the rest you need. Untreated sleep apnea affects your physical well-being while also affecting your mental health.
Your mental health also gets affected by sleep apnea, leaving you at a higher risk of the following disorders:
Depression and Anxiety
Anxiety and depression are associated with waking up repeatedly from the choking and breathing challenges you confront, resulting in a stress response in your body and brain. Depression and sleep apnea are also linked because you may report trouble sleeping and insomnia, one of the common symptoms of depression. Therefore when you receive sleep apnea treatment near you, it helps overcome depression and anxiety.
Cognitive Function
The lack of sleep can also affect cognitive functions because your brain controls everything you do and think. While the brain appears like a lump, it uses the maximum energy of all organs in your body. The cognitive function generally means using your brain. Therefore when you don’t get high-quality sleep, it impairs cognitive function, preventing you from functioning optimally. If you have sleep apnea and are diagnosed with the condition, you must get treatment for the problem from the dentist in St Petersburg soon after your diagnosis without delaying the matter further.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
PTSD is a mental health condition triggered by traumatic events either experienced or witnessed. The symptoms of PTSD may include flashbacks, nightmares, and severe anxiety making it challenging for you to adjust and cope with day-to-day functioning. PTSD can also affect sleep quality to make you a victim of sleep apnea, and its symptoms can worsen when you are stressed. Therefore if you have witnessed any terrifying events, you must seek treatment for PTSD from your doctor because it might help alleviate the symptoms of sleep apnea.
Substance Abuse
If you struggle with an addiction, you will likely experience the adverse effects of the habit when you sleep. Drug use and withdrawal symptoms make falling asleep and sleeping throughout the night challenging. Addiction doesn’t mean street drugs but includes alcohol, some prescription medications, and over-the-counter medicines. If drug use can result in sleep problems, sleep problems can result in drug abuse. Therefore substance abuse of any kind also results in sleep apnea because the substances don’t allow you to get good quality sleep.
Treatment Options
A cure for sleep apnea isn’t available on the market. However, if you are affected by this condition, you can get treatment for sleep apnea in St Petersburg to manage your symptoms and improve your sleep quality.
Before you proceed with any treatment, it helps if you understand you must undergo an in-lab polysomnography test because it delivers the most accurate diagnosis of the condition. You can either have yourself diagnosed by your healthcare provider or visit the dentist near you who will work with a sleep medicine specialist to diagnose the severity of sleep apnea affecting you.
If your diagnosis reveals that you are affected by moderate to severe sleep apnea, you will require a CPAP device, considered the gold standard treatment for this condition. Unfortunately, while the CPAP instrument delivers effective results, most patients don’t tolerate it because of its bulkiness.
If you have mild sleep apnea, you can receive help from a dental appliance near you provided by the dentist nearby as an effective remedy to manage sleep apnea symptoms comfortably. The dentist-pioneered oral appliance is gaining immense popularity among many affected by this problematic sleep-related disorder affecting many Americans, including children.
Treating sleep apnea doesn’t guarantee that your mental health issues will also get resolved. However, when you prioritize sleep apnea treatment, you put yourself in a better position to restore your mental health by understanding your receiving the rest you need by getting high-quality sleep.
If you are affected by sleeplessness at night and repeatedly waking up, getting yourself tested by Dental Arts Ninth Street helps diagnose whether you have sleep apnea. They can also provide a suitable remedy for your condition to help you overcome mental health problems (if any) by treating this sleep-related disorder.
