Strange Parkinson’s and Sleep Apnea Connection Discovered

Parkinson’s is a neural disease of the brain.

Sleep apnea happens when your breathing passages collapse while sleeping.

What could these two possibly have in common?

A lot, says a new study presented at the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting.

In fact, the connection is horrifying unless you make an important change right now.

This study is one of the largest of its kind, pulling together more than 20 years of data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The research team identified 1.55 million veterans diagnosed with sleep apnea and 9.76 million of their peers without the condition.

They then tracked how many people went on to develop Parkinson’s disease over the next five years.

They also checked who received treatment for sleep apnea using a CPAP machine, which helps keep the airway open during sleep.

The researchers made sure to balance factors like age, gender, race, smoking status, and even the risk of dying from other causes to ensure a fair comparison.

Here’s what they found:

1. People with sleep apnea had a significantly higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.

2. More precisely, there were 1.8 more cases of Parkinson’s per 1,000 people five years after sleep apnea diagnosis compared to healthy sleepers.

3. Only about 10% of sleep apnea patients had clear records of CPAP use.

4. Those who started CPAP treatment within two years of their sleep apnea diagnosis had 2.3 fewer cases of Parkinson’s per 1,000 people five years later compared to those who didn’t use CPAP.

5. But people who started CPAP more than two years later saw no benefit; their Parkinson’s risk stayed the same as those who never used CPAP.

Unlike our genetic makeup, this is one risk factor for Parkinson’s disease that we can control — so long as we start the treatment early enough.

But time is of the essence.

One of the problems with CPAP is, however, that people don’t use them.

If you have one, you probably throw it off in the middle of the night or find it too uncomfortable to use.

The good news is that you can eliminate snoring and sleep apnea as soon as tonight using a simple 3-minute throat exercise explained here…

And if you’ve already been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, then you can make simple lifestyle changes — explained here — that prevent your Parkinson’s from progressing… it can even reverse your symptoms…