Health experts have cautioned that three signs when you wake up could mean you are at risk of developing dementia. A relatively common sleep condition, thought to affect 10 million Brits, can temporarily deprive the brain of oxygen – potentially leading to cognitive decline.
A study, published in Nature Communications journal in 2022, confirmed a link between obstructive sleep apnoea and an increased risk of developing dementia. Researchers from the University of Queensland in Australia found a causal relationship between low oxygen levels in the brain during sleep and neurodegenerative disease.
Study author Professor Elizabeth Coulson explained: “We found sleep deprivation alone in mice caused only mild cognitive impairment. But we developed a novel way to induce sleep-disrupted breathing and found the mice displayed exacerbated pathological features of Alzheimer’s disease.
“It demonstrated that hypoxia – when the brain is deprived of oxygen – caused the same selective degeneration of neurons that characteristically die in dementia.” However, the study did not confirm how varying degrees of hypoxia affect the risk of developing the disease.
Trials on humans were set to launch in order to examine the correlation between oxygen deprivation and cognitive impairment. Professor Coulson continued: “It’s estimated around 50 percent of elderly people have obstructive sleep apnoea when their throat muscles intermittently collapse and block the airway during sleep causing their breathing to stop and start.”
According to the Sleep Apnoea Trust, as many as 10 million people in the UK suffer from the most common form of the condition called Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) – with up to four million of these suffering either severely or moderately. But many cases of sleep apnoea go undiagnosed and untreated because the most obvious warning signs occur during sleep.
The most common signs include frequent snoring, gasping for air, and silent breathing pauses that may last seconds to minutes. However, as reported by Express.co.uk, other more obvious signs may emerge when “waking up”.
According to WebMD, these include:
- Waking up with a very sore or dry throat
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Dizziness when you wake up
- Morning headaches
Sleep apnoea is described by the NHS as a condition where breathing stops and starts intermittently during sleep. While episodes of sleep apnoea are unlikely to cause serious harm, leaving the condition untreated can lead to more serious problems.
Professor Coulson stipulated that not everyone with obstructive sleep apnoea will go on to develop dementia. “Some dementia clinicians have reported their patient’s memory has improved after their sleep problems were identified and treated,” she said.
At present, the most effective treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea is a continuous positive airway pressure machine (CPAP). This works by keeping the airway open during sleep and allowing oxygen to reach the brain.
Researchers believe the machinery may therefore have the potential to reduce dementia risk for patients with sleep apnoea. “We couldn’t fit CPAP to mice, but we experimentally prevented the hypoxia and this stopped the cognitive impairment and neuron death, and also reduced the Alzheimer’s pathology,” Professor Coulson said.
“This suggests that CPAP treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea has the potential to reduce dementia risk.”
Sleep apnoea is also linked to other health issues such as high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke. This is due to the fact that sleep apnoea causes blood oxygen levels to plummet as the body stops breathing, increasing pressure inside the blood vessels.
The NHS says you should speak to your GP if you have any of the main symptoms of sleep apnoea, such as:
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You make gasping, snorting or choking noises while you sleep
- Your breathing stops and starts while you sleep
- You always feel very tired during the day