Sleep Apnea And Dementia—A Terrifying Connection

Most people who suffer from sleep apnea don’t know they have sleep apnea. They may snore but not realize they’re being suffocated throughout the night.

According to a new study in Frontiers in Sleep, another thing they may not realize is that their sleep apnea is slowly killing their brains, causing dementia and confusion.

The authors of the study were interested in the effects of sleep apnea on thinking and memory but anticipated that other scientists would criticize their study by claiming that thinking and memory problems in middle-aged people might be caused by heart and metabolism issues rather than sleep apnea itself.

To test whether there is a relationship between sleep apnea and cognitive decline in middle age, they recruited 27 middle-aged men who had sleep apnea but who were not obese and had no other health problems.

They were all between the ages of 35 and 70. Sixteen suffered from mild sleep apnea, and eleven suffered from severe sleep apnea.

This group was compared to a control group, matched by age, body mass index, and education, who did not have this breathing disorder.

Sleep apnea was diagnosed via a wearable portable device test and the attachment of various oxygen, breathing, and heart sensors. Cognitive function was tested using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery.

Their study yielded the following results.

1. Those with sleep apnea had worse executive functioning, such as problem-solving and decision-making.

2. Sleep apnea sufferers were worse at spatial memory tests, which refers to their ability to remember where things were.

3. Sleep apnea patients struggled to stay vigilant and pay sustained attention.

4. Those with sleep apnea were worse at controlling their bodies and physical impulses.

5. Sleep apnea affected the participants’ social cognition, such as understanding social situations and the emotions of others.

This means that sleep apnea itself causes these cognitive problems, even in middle-aged people who are otherwise healthy.

Even patients with mild sleep apnea performed poorly in these areas compared to good sleepers but fared better than those with more severe sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea robs your brain of oxygen when you sleep. This study again proves that dementia is caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain. Fortunately, there is a simple method, explained here, to load your brain with oxygen day and night and stop or even reverse dementia…

And if you snore or suffer from sleep apnea, you’ll be happy to hear you can heal these conditions in three minutes using simple throat exercises taught here…