Can Anxiety Cause Sleep Apnea?
Key Takeaways:
Sleep apnea is a common but frequently undiagnosed sleep disorder that disrupts breathing during sleep and is strongly linked to anxiety, ADHD, and mood disorders due to chronic sleep disruption and oxygen deprivation.
Obstructive sleep apnea is caused by the repeated blockage of the upper airway during sleep from relaxed muscles of the throat and tongue, not anxiety.
There is a high cooccurrence between anxiety and sleep apnea with each condition influencing the other: obstructed breathing during sleep and a lack of restorative sleep impacts anxiety levels and anxiety can impact sleep quality and exacerbate sleep apnea symptoms, even though it is not the cause.
Although anxiety does not cause sleep apnea, untreated sleep apnea often worsens anxiety and mental health symptoms by increasing stress hormones, impairing emotional regulation, and preventing restorative sleep.
Proper diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea can significantly improve anxiety symptoms, sleep quality, and overall health, reducing long-term risks such as heart disease, depression, and cognitive decline.
What is sleep apnea?
Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder where breathing repeatedly stops and starts, often unnoticed by the affected individual, leading to loud snoring, gasping, and poor sleep quality. This causes daytime fatigue and raises risks for high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke, among other issues. There is also a high correlation between sleep apnea, anxiety, and ADHD.
What causes sleep apnea?
Sleep apnea can be caused by either a physical blockage of the airway, called Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), or when the brain fails to send signals to breathing muscles known as Central Sleep Apnea (CSA), or a combination of both, known as Complex Sleep Apnea.
90% of sleep apnea cases are OSA. OSA is considered very common and estimated to affect between 10-30% of adults, while CSA affects less than 1% of the general population, but is much more prevalent in specific groups like those with heart failure. This article will focus exclusively on the diagnosis and treatment of OSA.
Can anxiety or stress cause sleep apnea?
No. Sleep apnea is caused by the repeated blockage of the upper airway during sleep from relaxed muscles of the throat and tongue. While anxiety is not the cause of sleep apnea and sleep apnea is not triggered by anxiety, sleep apnea is likely to cause anxiety and the two are consistently closely linked.
Can sleep apnea cause anxiety?
Yes. A lack of quality sleep due to sleep apnea can cause heightened anxiety levels.
The body is technically experiencing anxiety in sleep when it is unable to breathe due to an obstructed airway.
Oxygen deprivation during sleep apnea episodes can cause disruptions in brain function contributing to mood disturbances.
When sleep is continuously disrupted, a proper sleep cycle is not completed. Inadequate sleep increases sensitivity to stress, exacerbates emotional responses and leads to cognitive functioning issues.
Sleep deprivation increases the likelihood of experiencing anxiety and depression by impacting the brain's ability to regulate emotions. For some, this heightened anxiety manifests as specific fears, including anxiety about aging.
The relationship between sleep apnea and anxiety
Although anxiety induced sleep apnea is not a thing, a lack of restorative sleep does impact anxiety levels.
Anxiety can impact sleep quality and exacerbate sleep apnea symptoms, even though it is not the cause.
Addressing sleep apnea often leads to improvements in anxiety symptoms, though often therapy, additional anxiety management, and stress reductions techniques or medication may also be necessary.
Diagnosing Sleep Apnea
Common signs and symptoms of sleep apnea in adults include:
Loud snoring
Pauses in breathing during sleep
Gasping or choking during sleep
Excessive daytime sleepiness
Mouth breathing
Jaw clenching or teeth grinding
Dry mouth or throat
Morning headaches
Difficulty concentrating
Irritability or mood swings
High cortisol levels especially in the mornings (detectable by blood test)
Common signs and symptoms of sleep apnea in children include:
Snoring
Long pauses in breathing
Restless sleep
Mouth breathing
Clenching or grinding teeth
A diagnosis of ADHD
Prolonged bedwetting
Behavioral issues
Sleep walking or talking
Night sweats or night terrors
Treating Sleep Apnea and the Best Way to Stop Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea treatments are highly personalized based on evaluation and underlying causes, but can including lifestyle changes, positional therapy, oral appliance therapy, and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, myofunctional therapy, and even jaw surgery.
If you suspect you may have sleep apnea, asking your primary care physician for a sleep study is the first step. Based on your results, a professional can help you determine the most effective treatment options for your case.
At The Consultation Room we do a comprehensive symptom evaluation and offer personalized multi disciplinary treatment plans for anxiety including sleep issues and nutrition deficiencies. If sleep apnea is suspected we will discuss this possibility and support you through every step of the process to evaluate and understand how sleep apnea may be playing into your anxiety diagnosis.
What are some of the risks of untreated Sleep Apnea?
High blood pressure
Heart disease
Stroke
Diabetes
Alzheimer’s Disease
Depression
Weight gain
Cancer
Lifestyle Changes That Support Sleep and Mental Health
Some lifestyle changes and habits that can improve sleep apnea and anxiety:
Breathing exercises particularly breath holds which increase your tolerance to carbon dioxide (CO2)
Avoiding caffeine and alcohol consumption to the extent possible, both substances are known to disrupt sleep and contribute to anxiety
Tape your mouth shut when you sleep. (Open mouth posture allows the tongue to fall back and obstruct the airway.)