How Mental Health Can Impact Sleep Apnea
Key Takeaways
- Mental health conditions can worsen sleep apnea symptoms by disrupting normal sleep cycles and increasing nighttime stress.
- Poor sleep aggravates mental health issues, and mental health struggles make it harder to manage sleep apnea.
- Addressing both conditions can help improve mood, energy levels, and overall quality of life.
Everyone needs sleep. It helps our bodies and minds recover from the day and it allows for healing. But a lot of people struggle with getting a good night’s sleep. Not getting enough sleep can have more serious consequences than being grumpy or unfocused the next day.
Sleep and mental health are closely related. Living with a mental health condition can affect your sleep negatively. Poor sleep can also have an effect on your mental health.
Sleep Apnea and Mental Health Connection
Mental health conditions can rob you of sleep. They can create a cycle of physiological and psychological stress that prevent the brain and body from relaxing. Conditions like anxiety, depression, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) often interfere with sleep. They may cause hormonal imbalances, disturbing dreams, distressing thoughts, insomnia and other sleep disorders. They may also make it more difficult to deal with sleep apnea.
Mood Disorders
Mood disorders like depression can disrupt sleep patterns.¹ They may lead to insomnia or excessive sleep. When the brain cannot effectively manage emotions, it can disrupt sleep, which is important for mental and emotional health.
- Insomnia or Early Waking. Mood disorders can prevent people from falling asleep, staying asleep, or it can cause them to wake up earlier than normal. Then, they can’t go back to sleep, often referred to as insomnia. This can lead to low energy and daytime fatigue.
- Disrupted Sleep Architecture. Mood disorders can disrupt sleep cycles, especially REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. REM sleep is important for helping regulate emotions. When this sleep cycle is disrupted, it can mean a person gets less deep, restorative sleep.
- Hypersomnia. Some mood disorders can cause excessive daytime sleepiness or just sleeping too much in general. When sleep is not restorative, you may feel like you didn’t get any rest at all, even though you slept longer than normal.
Anxiety
Anxiety can make getting restful sleep difficult because it creates a sense of “fight or flight.” It can disrupt or prevent sleep in several ways.
- Racing Thoughts. Not being able to stop worrying can keep the mind very alert. This prevents you from being able to quiet your thoughts enough to fall asleep.
- Anticipatory Anxiety. You can actually be too worried about not being able to sleep, so that you become more anxious at bedtime, keeping you from going to sleep or sleeping well.
- Nighttime Panic Attacks. Panic disorders can cause nighttime panic attacks. They can wake you from sleep with feelings of intense fear and physical symptoms associated with panic attacks.
PTSD
PTSD can keep a person in a constant state of being “on guard” due to traumatic life events. This can make getting sound sleep almost impossible. PTSD is often associated with sleep disturbances.
- Nightmares and Night Terrors. A primary symptom of PTSD is recurring nightmares. These disturbing dreams often replay or represent the traumatic event. The fear of having nightmares can cause you to avoid sleep.
- Hypervigilance. People who suffer from PTSD may stay in a heightened state of alertness. This makes them easily startled by noises or changes in light at night. This can prevent feeling safe, which can prevent restful sleep.
- Sleep Apnea. PTSD has been associated with higher rates of obstructive sleep apnea.² This causes fragmented sleep and contributes to daytime fatigue.
Reduced Quality of Life
When mental health issues and sleep apnea are combined, it can create numerous other problems that affect work performance, relationships, and the ability to enjoy normal daily activities. You may also experience things like:
- Severe daytime fatigue
- Trouble concentrating
- Memory problems
- Mood swings
How to Help Both Mental Health and Sleep Apnea
The connection between mental health conditions and sleep apnea is cyclical, and one can influence the other. This means both can be negatively affected by the other, and you may feel like you are trying to survive a vicious cycle. There are a few things you can do to help both sleep apnea and your mental health.
Go to Your Doctor
The first step to take toward improving both conditions is to get a professional evaluation from your healthcare provider. Be honest about how you feel and your symptoms. They need to know about any mood changes or trouble sleeping. With this information, they can create an effective treatment plan that can address both issues.
Manage Mental Health
Treating mental health conditions like depression, PTSD, or anxiety can drastically help improve sleep apnea symptoms. They may suggest therapy, medication, or simple stress management strategies. Cognitive-behavioral therapy can be successful in treating people with both mental health and sleep issues.³
Practice Healthy Sleep Tactics
Maintaining good sleep habits can help both conditions. Some things you can do to improve your mental health and get better sleep include:
- Set a sleep schedule
- Create a bedtime routine
- Keep your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet
- Avoid caffeine and alcohol before bed
- Get plenty of exercise earlier in the day
Treat Sleep Apnea
Treating sleep apnea can significantly improve mental health symptoms. CPAP therapy is one of the most effective treatment options. A machine is used to provide Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP), which keeps the airways open, allowing you to sleep with fewer disruptions. One study found that using CPAP therapy can improve depression and anxiety by about 20%.⁴
Conclusion
Mental health and sleep apnea are closely connected, but both conditions can be successfully managed with the right approach. By treating them together, you can break the cycle of poor sleep and mental health struggles, leading to better energy, mood, and overall quality of life.
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References
- Kim, J. Y., et al. (2019, September 12). Sleep apnea tied to mood disorders. National Institutes of Health Research Matters. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/search/research-news/4744/
- Frontiers in Psychiatry. (2022). Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): A likely bidirectional effect. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, 8780754. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8780754/
- Rossman, J. (2019). Cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia: An effective and underutilized treatment for insomnia. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 13(6), 544–547. https://doi.org/10.1177/1559827619867677
- PubMed Central. (2022). [Article information unavailable]. PubMed Central. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9609270/
