Sleep apnea takes a huge toll on your body and your quality of life when left untreated. The interruptions in breathing impact your quality of sleep. In the beginning, you may only experience light fatigue throughout the day, poor ability to concentrate, and even irritability, but overtime, the lack of sleep can lead to sleep deprivation. When your body becomes deprived of sleep, the sleepiness you feel throughout the day can intensify and also start to cause additional symptoms with your body’s ability to function. This not only drastically decreases your quality of life, but you can even put yourself and others in danger.
At Distinctive Smiles in Dublin, we want you to have a good night’s sleep– not just to feel relaxed and energetic, but to help you make the most of your life. In order to do so, you must properly treat sleep apnea to reduce the effects of lack of sleep. If you’re not convinced treatment is for you, here are leading reasons you need to treat your apnea now.
Decrease in Daily Functions
Lack of sleep impacts your ability to function correctly. Cognitive processes become slowed, decreasing your ability to concentrate, think critically, reason, and even solve problems. Not to mention, you’ll become less alert and have a decreased ability to learn. In some cases, you may even have trouble with memory loss and become forgetful.
Increased Risk for Accidents
As your cognitive functions decrease, you’re less able to perform certain tasks safely, like driving. In fact, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that 100,000 auto accidents occur each year due to fatigue. When you aren’t properly rested and you get behind the wheel, you become a danger to yourself and others. Not to mention, accidents in the workplace and home tend to increase.
Complications to Health
When your body isn’t properly rested, your overall health can begin to suffer. In fact, those with sleep disorders and chronic sleep loss have an increased risk for diabetes and cardiovascular complications, like heart disease, heart attack, and irregular heartbeat.
Implications on Mental Health
When you become too tired to enjoy life, depression often sets in. It’s hard to enjoy life when you’re always tired, which leads to depression. In addition, lack of sleep can also cause mood fluctuations, irritability and even anxiety.
Hurts Physical Appearance
Sleep deprivation also increases the aging process. Your body needs sleep to repair itself. When there isn’t enough sleep, the body releases the stress hormone cortisol, which causes the breakdown of collagen. This causes your skin to appear older quicker, while causing eye puffiness, fine lines, and dark circles under the eyes.
Sleep deprivation impacts your body and mind when not treated. Your enjoyment of life will quickly plummet as the hours tick away without getting a restful night’s sleep. We don’t want to see this happen to you. If you’re experiencing untreated sleep apnea, we encourage you to seek treatment. Regain control of your life and improve your health with sleep apnea treatment at Distinctive Smiles of Dublin.