Psychological Effects of Sleep Apnea Healed

Sleep apnea has long been linked to many life-threatening conditions such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart attack and stroke.

But less talked about are the psychological aspects of sleep apnea. It causes stress, anxiety, and even depression.

A new study in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry reveals a way to eliminate these terrifying psychological aspects of sleep apnea.

This randomized clinical trial was performed between April 2019 and October 2020.

Researchers randomly assigned 89 male participants, aged between 18 to 65 years and suffering from moderate-to-severe sleep apnea and obesity, into two groups.

The first group received the usual care for sleep apnea: continuous positive airway pressure therapy.

The second group engaged in an 8-week weight loss and lifestyle intervention, including physical exercise, diet, sleep hygiene, smoking and alcohol intake advice.

To measure the impact of the intervention, researchers evaluated participants’ daily functioning, psychological distress, and anxiety and depression symptoms at the end of the intervention and again six months later.

They used several established measures including the Functional Outcomes of Sleep Questionnaire (FOSQ), the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the State-Trait Depression Inventory (STDI), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).

The results revealed that compared to the usual care group, the intervention group showed significant improvements in all areas evaluated:

1. Their FOSQ score increased by an average of 2.3 points, indicating improved daily functioning.
2. General health, measured by the GHQ, decreased by an average score of 10.3.
3. Psychological distress decreased as measured by STAI-State score (-7.0), STAI-Trait score (-6.1), STDI-State score (-2.4), STDI-Trait score (-3.8), and BDI score (-2.0).

Even more encouragingly, these improvements were still evident six months after the intervention, showing the potential long-term benefits of the program.

These findings break new ground in the management of sleep apnea and associated mental health symptoms. It provides the first evidence that an interdisciplinary approach combining weight loss and lifestyle changes can significantly improve daily functioning and reduce psychological distress among people with sleep apnea and obesity.

But why not just eliminate sleep apnea for good?

How?

It’s actually very easy. Simple throat exercises, explained here, open up the breathing passages day and night and permanently relieve snoring and sleep apnea in as little as three minutes…