Anti-anxiety drugs are a class of medications called benzodiazepines, which, in addition to treating anxiety, are used to treat muscle spasms. Some examples are:
One side effect of using anti-anxiety medications such as these is that, like sleeping pills, they relax your muscles. For people who already have untreated obstructive sleep apnea or are at risk for developing it, anti-anxiety medications may not be a good idea.
While anti-anxiety pills are good for helping your anxiety levels, their muscle relaxing property can:
The reason that the muscle relaxing property of anti-anxiety pills antagonizes obstructive sleep apnea is because of what causes OSA.
Obstructive sleep apnea is caused when:
You can see a visual depiction of OSA here.
People who are at risk for obstructive sleep apnea already have existing risk factors (listed below) coupled with anxiety disorders that require the use of medications to be manageable. Some risk factors for obstructive sleep apnea are:
If you are concerned about taking anti-anxiety pills but require medications to manage your anxiety, contact your healthcare provider or a sleep specialist for further information.