Diabetes & The Body

Sleep Apnea and Diabetes

Diabetes, a disease characterized by excessive urination. Diabetes mellitus is caused by insufficient insulin production or lack of responsiveness to insulin, resulting in hyperglycemia (high blood glucose levels). There are 2 primary types of diabetes mellitus, type I (insulin-dependent or juvenile-onset), which may be caused by an autoimmune response, and type II (non-insulin-dependent or adult-onset). Diabetes insipidus is typically due to hormonal dysregulation.

Diabetes singly is a major threat to individuals but when it is developed with other disorders it will be a real life threatening condition. This would make it hard to control the disorders.

Some new studies suggest that healthy young people who regularly get less than 6.5 hours of sleep a night had greater insulin resistance than people who get 7.5 to 8.5 hours of rest. Insulin resistance is the condition that often leads to Type2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is typically a disease of adulthood. Other causes are aging, obesity, poor diet, stress - in fact, any of the conditions that lead to a weakening of the body's immune system.

Sleep deprivation in the industrialized world is rapidly rising to epidemic proportions. With the pressures of work, family life and recreational pursuits, there is little time left for sleep. And this is dangerous. Sleep is as important to a person's health as food or water - almost as important as breathing. And people are seriously short changing themselves, leaving their bodies open to attack from dozens of life threatening and disabling diseases and disorders.

Now diabetes has been added to that long list. In fact, many of my readers who suffer from sleep deprivation because of a sleep disorder are also afflicted with diabetes. This connection is self-evident.

Twenty to thirty years ago, people slept, on the average, seven and a half to eight hours a night. Today, many people sleep as little as six hours a night, and some sleep even less. This isn't because of any sleep disorder, but because of the pressures of daily living. The bad news is that the pressure of daily living is gradually leading to life threatening diseases, disabling disorders and even death.

Sleep apnea is a serious, potentially life-threatening condition that is far more common than generally understood. First described in 1965, sleep apnea is a breathing disorder characterized by brief interruptions of breathing during sleep. It owes its name to a Greek word, apnea, meaning want of breath. There are two types of sleep apnea: central and obstructive. Central sleep apnea, which is less common, occurs when the brain fails to send the appropriate signals to the breathing muscles to initiate respirations. Obstructive sleep apnea is far more common and occurs when air cannot flow into or out of the person’s nose or mouth although efforts to breathe continue.

In a given night, the number of involuntary breathing pauses or “apneic events” may be as high as 20 to 60 or more per hour. These breathing pauses are almost always accompanied by snoring between apnea episodes, although not everyone who snores has this condition. Sleep apnea can also be characterized by choking sensations. The frequent interruptions of deep, restorative sleep often leads to excessive daytime sleepiness and may be associated with an early morning headache.

Early recognition and treatment of sleep apnea is important because it may be associated with irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke

Sleep apnea occurs in all age groups and both sexes but is more common in men. Four percent of middle-aged men and 2 percent of middle-aged women have sleep apnea along with excessive daytime sleepiness. People most likely to have or develop sleep apnea include those who snore loudly and also are overweight, or have high blood pressure, or have some physical abnormality in the nose, throat, or other parts of the upper airway. Sleep apnea seems to run in some families, suggesting a possible genetic basis.

Because of the serious disturbances in their normal sleep patterns, people with sleep apnea often feel very sleepy during the day and their concentration and daytime performance suffer. The consequences of sleep apnea range from annoying to life threatening. They include symptoms suggesting depression, irritability, sexual dysfunction, learning and memory difficulties, and falling asleep while at work, on the phone, or driving. Untreated sleep apnea patients are 3 times (or more) likely to have automobile accidents; CPAP treatment reverses the increased risk. It has been estimated that up to 50 percent of sleep apnea patients have high blood pressure. It has recently been shown that sleep apnea contributes to high blood pressure.

People who have sleep apnea have a higher than average chance of having diabetes. Hence, those with snoring problems should be screened for diabetes. Adults who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea are three times more likely to also have diabetes.

The blame for this falls squarely on excess weight gain. Surplus weight interferes with insulin's ability to propel sugars from digested food across the cell membrane, robbing the cells of needed carbohydrates. Diabetes results when glucose builds up in the bloodstream and can't be utilised by the body. Being overweight can also lead to obstructive sleep apnea.

When people gain too much weight, fatty deposits build up along the throat and line the breathing passages. The muscles in this region slacken during sleep, forcing the airway to narrow and often close altogether. When an overweight person lies down and goes to sleep gravity shoves the fat in the neck backwards. This blocks the airway and can bring breathing to a halt.

Someone afflicted with both diabetes and sleep apnea is more likely to suffer a stroke in the future. Persons going to the doctor for a sleep-apnea exam should request that their blood be screened for diabetes, especially if they are overweight. More than half of the individuals who develop diabetes as adults will need to modify their diet and take daily insulin in order to control the disease.