Anxiety and sleep apnea are two distinct disorders that can have a connection, making both of them worse. Sleep apnea is a common medical condition that causes you to stop breathing momentarily throughout the night. Your body has to wake up in order to begin breathing again. The cessation is normally caused by a blockage in airway caused by relaxed muscles or a large tongue. 

Anxiety is a mental health disorder that involves excessive worry and fear over rational and irrational causes. Anxiety can be debilitating and interfere with individuals' ability to live life. 

Both anxiety and sleep apnea are able to disrupt sleep and cause major sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation, can inturn, make both of those conditions worse. The entire situation is a terrible spiral, that if well-controlled, can truly lead to a much better quality of sleep. 

Continue reading to find out more about this connection, and how you can overcome this. 

What is anxiety? 

Anxiety is an emotion that is characterized by worry and fear. When it swells to become debilitating and interferes with living life, that's when it becomes a potential psychiatric diagnosis. It can involve mental changes, as well as physical changes like increased heart rate or high blood pressure. 

Occasional anxiety before something high stakes, or after something scary is expected. Chronic or excessive anxiety can lead to an anxiety disorder. Someone can have generalized anxiety disorder, which means they experience symptoms of anxiety most days of the week for a majority of the day. This anxiety can interrupt relationships, work, and overall quality of life. 

There are other anxiety disorders such as panic disorder and phobia-related disorders. Panic disorders cause common panic attacks which lead to an inability to breathe, a feeling of claustrophobia, and overexcitability of all adrenaline symptoms. Phobia-related disorders are fears related to specific things or situations like spiders, flying, or being in public. 

Anxiety and sleep 

Sleep problems and anxiety can be connected. Insomnia, chronic sleep deprivation, can make anxiety worse. Vice versa, stress and chronic anxiety can make it very hard to fall asleep and lead to symptoms of insomnia. 

Throughout the night, someone with anxiety may toss and turn all night because they are so worried about something. Their intrusive thoughts make it impossible for them to get a good night's rest. The next day, they may not be as able to cope with daily stressors because their physical, mental and emotional functioning is compromised after a night of poor sleep. 

The Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) notes that almost all psychiatric disorders interrupt sleep. Also, individuals with insomnia are at higher risk for developing sleep-related disorders such as sleep apnea. 

What is sleep apnea? 

Sleep apnea is a condition that causes the body to stop breathing several times throughout the night. The most common form is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) which involves a blockage in the back of the throat that prevents air from passing through. A second type of insomnia is central sleep apnea, which is when signals from the brain do not transmit all the way down to the lungs, signaling them to function properly. 

OSA is higher in those who are obese, have wide necks, are males, smokers, and other risk factors. Symptoms include choking or gasping for air, loud snoring, excessive daytime sleepiness, trouble concentrating and remembering, headaches and dry mouth, and sexual dysfunction. 

If OSA is left untreated, it can lead to several medical complications and other problems. Decreased performance in work or school, increased incident of accidents, heart disease, heart failure, stroke and diabetes high blood pressure, asthma, and atrial fibrillation are all potential progressions of untreated OSA. 

The connection between sleep apnea and anxiety 

There is a growing body of research that suggests sleep apnea and anxiety are actually connected. It is likely that each condition exacerbates the other. Sleep apnea causes disrupted sleep, which can increase daytime stress and fatigue. Anxiety can also worsen sleep apnea by making it harder to fall asleep at night. 

There is new research that suggests these two are often co-occuring conditions. In 2014, a study showed that people with OSA were more likely to experience anxiety symptoms. Severe OSA was linked to an even higher likelihood of experiencing anxiety. People with sleep apnea were also more likely to experience both anxiety and depression. 

in 2019, another study supported these results, revealing that the incidence of anxiety disorders and depression was higher in people with sleep apnea than in people without it. This was especially true in female patients. 

Treatment 

The only definitive way to be diagnosed with sleep apnea is a polysomnography, or a sleep study. After a referral from your doctor, a sleep specialist uses a sleep study to measure your oxygen levels, brain waves, heart rate and rhythms, and leg movements for six hours overnight. 

Sleep specialists can determine the severity of your sleep apnea based on on your apnea-hypopnea index (or AHI), or the number of times you stop breathing for 10 seconds or more per hour. 

First-line treatment for sleep apnea is a positive airway pressure therapy, which requires a small mask over your nose or both the nose and mouth. A continuous positive airway pressure machine, or CPAP, is normally the go-to therapy. BiPAP is a bidirectional positive airway pressure that helps keep the lungs open so they don't collapse. 

Anxiety treatments can include good sleep, but also may involve mental health therapy, like cognitive behavioral therapy, medications, and techniques like meditation. 

Good sleep takes awhile to achieve, especially poor sleep habits have been developed. It will take some time to undo those and develop positive sleep behaviors. These include establishing a consistent bedtime routine, keeping your bedroom comfortable, dark and uncluttered, turning off all light-emitting devices, using white noise to fall asleep, and limiting caffeine intake before bedtime. Being physically active throughout the day can also help establish a good sleep routine. 

When to talk to a doctor

If you have any symptoms of sleep apnea, it's important to get it diagnosed and managed very quickly. Sleep apnea can be hard to recognize unless you have a bed partner that can let you know you are snoring and having trouble breathing. However, if you wake up exhausted, even after a full night's sleep, then that may be a clue that something is preventing you from getting a good night's sleep. 

Click the orange button below to take a free online sleep test and talk with one of our sleep health professionals as soon as possible. 

https://www.verywellhealth.com/sleep-apnea-and-anxiety-5216472