Can Being Overweight Cause Sleep Apnea?

Among sleep apnea types, obstructive sleep apnea is the most common. Disruptive breathing occurs in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) due to a narrowed or blocked upper airway. Those suffering from severe OSA may experience up to 30 breathing interruptions per night.

Furthermore, increased abdominal girth from excess fat can compress the chest wall, reducing lung volume. This decreased lung capacity reduces airflow3, increasing the likelihood of the upper airway collapsing during sleep. The least common causes of sleep apnea include endocrine disorders (such as diabetes and thyroid disease), acid reflux, lung diseases, and heart conditions. However, approximately 60-90% of adults with OSA are obese.

Relationship Between Sleep Apnea and Weight Gain

Obstructive sleep apnea affects more than 20% of obese people and 3% of normal-weight people. Fat pockets form around your throat and neck as you gain weight, narrowing your breathing passageways. Narrowed arteries are more prone to collapsing while sleeping.

 Excess abdominal fat can also cause the chest wall to compress. As a result, your lung capacity has decreased, resulting in decreased airflow and an increased risk of upper airway collapsing during sleep. Obesity has been linked to the development of sleep apnea, but the relationship is bidirectional.

Excess weight can contribute to sleep apnea development and vice versa. Sleep apnea can cause weight gain or make losing weight more difficult. If you’re trying to lose weight and nothing seems to be working, you may have sleep apnea.

The mechanisms by which sleep apnea can cause weight gain are not entirely understood. More research on this topic is needed to understand the process and make it easier for people to lose weight and maintain a healthy weight, even if they have OSA.

OSA has been linked to weight gain due to decreased activity levels and increased appetite, particularly for refined carbohydrates. It remains to be seen whether obstructive sleep apnea predisposes to preferential visceral fat accumulation. Even in patients who do not lose weight, CPAP therapy for obstructive sleep apnea appears to reduce the amount of visceral fat and may also lower leptin levels.

Will Losing Weight Help Sleep Apnea?

You can remove problematic extra fat on your neck and throat that causes your airway to collapse while sleeping by losing just 10% of your body fat. Losing weight relieves the pressure on your chest wall caused by excess fat deposits and reduces the likelihood of airway obstruction.

You are lowering your blood pressure, decreasing your risk of stroke, improving heart disease, and decreasing OSA by losing weight. It necessitates healing energy from sleep. Sleep apnea causes fatigue and sleepiness during the day.

You can improve your sleep quality with OSA treatment. A good night’s sleep will give you the energy and motivation to work out. Sleep apnea therapy helps to rebalance your hunger hormones, allowing you to eat a healthy diet. You can reduce your sleep apnea symptoms and eliminate mild sleep apnea once you reach your ideal weight.

Other Causes of the Condition

Several other factors may play into your sleep apnea as well, including:

• Thyroid issues
• Small throat size
• Large tongue size
• Large neck circumference
• Symptoms of Sleep Apnea

Aside from feeling overly tired or sleepy during the day, you may experience unusual morning headaches. The headaches caused by sleep apnea are caused by your brain being deprived of oxygen regularly while you sleep.

Many people with this condition are unaware; they only know about it because their loved ones report that they have fitful and restless sleep at night and occasionally stop breathing. Some people, however, awaken with a flinch or gasping for air.

What Should I Do to Treat It?

You must seek medical attention immediately if any of the above symptoms sound familiar. Ignoring the problem may result in more severe health consequences. Your doctor will recommend a sleep study. A sleep study examines a single person to determine how well they sleep.