Did you know that sleep apnea can increase the risk of mental health problems? Sleep apnea occurs when you are not able to breathe properly at night during sleep, which can lead to physical problems like heart problems. But new research shows it can also significantly impact your mental health which leads to many mental health issues or makes existing ones worse. Learn about the connection between sleep and mental health and how sleep apnea affects your mental health in this article. Visit the best Mental Health Clinic in Brooklyn at Doral Health & Wellness or log on to www.doralhw.org

The connection between sleep and mental health

Your sleep and mental health are more closely connected than you think. While brain chemistry is poorly understood, a good night’s sleep seems to provide the mind with a period of restoration. Without this time to recharge, brain chemistry alters. This can aggravate existing mental health problems or decrease your daytime alertness. If your sleep is disrupted for a longer period, it may lead to other mental disorders, such as depression.

When you have poor sleep, you may feel fatigued and weak the next day. No matter how much you drink coffee or energy drinks, you can’t completely stay alert and concentrate.

If you’re suffering from sleep apnea, then this lethargy will take a toll on your psychological state and mental health. Not only does it lead to mental health concerns, but individuals with mental health problems are more prone to experience sleep disorders.

In recent years, clinicians and researchers changed their opinions toward sleep disorders like sleep apnea. At first, sleep disorders were considered symptoms of mental health problems. New studies found that sleep deprivation and sleep disorders can increase the risk of developing psychiatric disorders.

This shows how sleep and mental health are connected and any disruption in any one of them can affect the other and make it worse.

 How does sleep apnea affect your mental health?

Sleep apnea occurs when you’re not able to breathe properly during sleep. This can increase the risk of various health problems, like heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and more. Recently, researchers found that sleep apnea not only affects physical health but also mental health as well. The repeated cessations in breathing and ongoing sleep deprivation can take a toll on your mental health which can lead to any of the following problems, including:

1. Brain fog:

When you lose sleep for a longer period, you feel less attentive and are unfocused. Brain fog is a common issue from inconsistent sleep patterns because sleep with less oxygen saturation in the brain can lead to cognitive issues. If you have trouble concentrating or staying attentive, then you should seek medical help. This might be an indication of chronic sleep loss. Sleep apnea is a common cause of sleep loss, so you need to get treated for it to improve your consistent sleep for your brain to achieve restoration and reduce brain fog. With treatment, you may also become more aware and attentive at work and in life.

2. Mood changes:

If you suffer from chronic sleep deprivation due to sleep apnea, it affects your mood and leads to daytime fatigue, irritability, and mood swings. Typically, pre-existing mood disorders can affect your sleep patterns by amplifying mental health issues which can lead to undiagnosed sleep apnea, which further worsens the existing mood disorder. The research found a link between mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and mood swings related to sleep deprivation, specifically obstructive sleep apnea. This can cause mental health issues to get better when you get treatment for sleep apnea and your sleep improves.

3. Behavior changes:

Long-term sleep deprivation due to sleep apnea can affect your behavior. You may be more irritable. In case you already have behavioral issues, a person with sleep loss may find their symptoms get worse. However behavioral therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy can help to manage behavioral disorders. Mindfulness practices and stress reduction techniques are also helpful in modifying behavior. A good night’s sleep also plays an important role in behavioral health. With proper treatment of sleep apnea, better sleep quality helps to regulate your behavior without the need for sedatives and alcohol before bedtime.

4. Stress:

Stress and sleep often affect each other. When you’re stressed, whether due to personal or professional issues, you find it difficult to shut off your mind at night and get a good sleep, stay asleep, or achieve a deep sleep phase that helps you restore your mind and body. If you have sleep apnea, it causes sleep deprivation which makes you more irritable and it gets difficult to cope with everyday stressors. Not getting enough sleep also significantly increases your frustration and makes you more irritable than you are. You can improve your stress, by getting the proper amount of sleep, and by getting treated for sleep apnea that causes sleep deprivation. This also helps you deal with stressful situations in your life and prevents the risk of poor mental and physical health.

5. Psychotic symptoms:

A body needs a minimum of 8 hours of sleep to function properly throughout the day. If you suffer from sleep apnea, not only do you feel restless, even after sleeping a full night, but you also experience hallucinations and see or hear things that aren’t there. Besides hallucinations, sleep deprivation can cause other psychological symptoms as well, including:

• Stress
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Paranoia
• PTSD
• Suicidal thoughts
• Impulsive behaviors

6. Depression:

Not getting enough quality sleep not only affects your mood but makes you irritable and cranky. Over time, if sleep deprivation occurs due to sleep apnea you are more prone to mood disorders such as depression and major depressive disorder. Depression can occur or get worse with sleep apnea because of not getting a good night’s sleep. It will also affect your daily life. The longer you don’t regulate your sleep, the more significantly sleep apnea affects your depression. That’s why you should treat your sleep apnea to improve your sleep quality, which also helps you reduce the symptoms of depression or lower the risk of getting depression altogether.

7. Anxiety:

Anxiety can lead to sleep deprivation, and if you are diagnosed with sleep apnea, then it can make other symptoms worse. Sleep apnea causes insomnia and sleep disturbances, which puts you at greater risk of anxiety. If left untreated, sleep problems may lead to more severe anxiety conditions that make everyday challenges more difficult. If you get treated and get enough sleep, this can lower your anxious thoughts throughout the day, and you fall asleep without anxious thoughts that might keep you awake at night.

8. Seasonal affective disorder:

This condition is a subtype of depression that occurs during a difficult time when you get less sunlight. The darkness becomes overbearing and disrupts your internal biological clock, which results in sleep disturbances like either sleeping too much or not enough. These imbalances in sleep cycles and the inability to get a good night’s rest make you feel depressed during the darkest days of the year. And if you have sleep apnea, it makes your condition worse. You need to make sure you get treated for sleep apnea so that your symptoms don’t get worse and are able to improve your sleep.

9. Bipolar disorder:

If you’re diagnosed with bipolar disorder then you may experience extreme mood swings (from mania to depression), which affect your wellness in everyday life. Additionally, research has found that bipolar disorder patients often suffer from sleep pattern changes before a bipolar episode. This means it can affect your regular sleep cycle, which in contrast, can affect your moods as well. So, you must get treated for sleep disorders if you have one to balance your mood and reduce the effect of your mood swings between depression and mania. For sleep apnea, you can use breathing equipment to improve your sleep quality.

10. Autism:

This disorder is generally diagnosed in children and adolescents. Patients show sleep deprivation patterns which may worsen as the condition progresses. That’s why you need to get proper treatment to improve your sleep quality and long-term wellness.

11. Schizophrenia:

Patients with this condition can’t differentiate between what’s real or not. People with this disorder are more likely to suffer from insomnia and circadian rhythm disturbances. And if you suffer from sleep apnea, it makes your condition even worse. Additionally, schizophrenia medications also worsen sleep disorders, so you must get treatment for sleep disorders alongside this treatment.

12. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD):

This is more common in children than adults. It lowers attention span and causes impulsive behavior. It is very common in people who suffer from sleep disorders like sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, etc. People with both ADHD and sleep disorder experience less attention span and behavioral problems. Treating sleep apnea can help to improve attention span and decrease behavioral problems.

13. Paranoia:

If sleep apnea causes sleep deprivation, then you’re at high risk of paranoid thoughts because sleep apnea symptoms severely affect personal perspective and mental processing. Sleep loss and oxygen deprivation from sleep apnea can cause paranoid tendencies when you stay awake during the day. Sleep apnea also worsens paranoia symptoms and paranoia further leads to sleep problems.

14. Eating disorders:

This can impact your sleep and may lead to sleep apnea. Because when you restrict what you’re eating it starts depleting essential nutrition from the body to keep healthy brain function like oxygen saturation. Over time, you may experience extreme weight loss, malnutrition, and respiratory dysfunction which disrupt sleep and lead to sleep disorders like sleep apnea.

Those who suffer from mental health disorders struggle with falling asleep and staying asleep during the night. Similarly, sleep deprivation due to sleep apnea can lead to mental health problems. It’s a devastating circle of events that, if left untreated, can make it difficult for a person to function normally during the day. As they are connected, treating sleep apnea, and improving sleep quality can improve mental well-being. Untreated sleep apnea can cause havoc on your mental health. So, make sure you try to get a good night’s sleep every day with proper sleep apnea treatment that allows you to sleep easier.

Sleep apnea can severely impact mental health because it can increase the risk of many mental health problems and make existing mental health conditions worse. Additionally, mental health problems can also contribute to sleep disruption which increases the risk of sleep apnea. However, treating sleep apnea and improving sleep quality can improve your mental health problems, symptoms, and overall well-being.

Need help with sleep apnea and mental health problems, visit our behavioral health clinic in Brooklyn to get professional medical treatment. Call us to book your appointment now!!!!

Book your appointment with the best mental health professionals in Brooklyn where doctors and staff ensure you get the best results. Call us on +1-347-384-5690 to get a consultation. If you need help learning coping methods, register your information and make direct contact with our doctors and psychiatrists to learn those methods, log on to www.doralhw.org. Visit us at 1797 Pitkin Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11212.