Sleep Apnea and Silent Strokes

Sleep Apnea: A disease the owner may not realize they have, as they sleep through it. However, day time finds these people sleep deprived, with all the usual hallmarks of lack of sleep; such as sluggishness, irritability, and poor concentration skills. Lack of sleep also has grave social consequences too: poor performance at tasks, more car accidents, and other injuries when engaged with machinery, to name a few.

Other health issues such as the increased risk of stroke, as a result of episodic and frequent periods without oxygen have also been cited. Now, researchers from Showa University Medical School indicated the prevalence of strokes is even higher than anticipated. Almost 20% of the men diagnosed with sleep apnea had silent lesions in their brains indicative of strokes. The lesions were termed silent, as no observable signs of a stroke were easily observed during wake time hours. However, the loss of brain cells is always noteworthy, and, although somehow the brain was compensating for its loss, the likelihood that this would always be possible is negligible.

A ray of hope was added by these medical scientists: after only 3 months on a breathing apparatus known as CPAP, the clinical indicators of stroke were eliminated. Additionally, the study repeated past research in this area, by validating that over weight people are more likely to suffer with sleep apnea. Weight reduction is a risk factor that the greater majority of people can control.