Sleep Apnea Affects Brain Tissue, Impairs Memory
Sleep apnea, which affects close to 20 million Americans, occurs when the muscles of the throat relax so much during sleep that the flow of air is blocked. When air flow is blocked, so is the flow of oxygen to the brain. Sleepers often snore excessively, wake violently, gasping for air, before falling back to sleep. This cycle of sleeping-gasping-waking can happen hundreds of times every night.
It’s little wonder then that, after a night of such fitful sleeping, a person is left feeling tired and groggy the next day. The ability to focus can become troublesome and memory loss is common. Prior studies have shown a close association between sleep apnea and an increased risk for developing diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.
A team of researchers from UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine recently examined brain scans taken of 43 people who suffer from sleep apnea. They were particularly interested in documenting any effect the sleep apnea might have on two structures in the brain known as the mammillary bodies.
Alcoholism and Alzheimer’s disease are both known to cause memory loss, as are a number of other medical conditions. When the mammillary bodies in the brains of patients suffering from these conditions is examined, they are generally smaller than normal and appear shrunken.
The UCLA research team found the mammillary bodies in the sleep apnea patients to be almost 20% smaller than those in a control group of 66 subjects matched for gender and age. In many cases, the left mammillary body was the most damaged. The shrinkage is thought to be a result of the repeated interruptions of the oxygen supply to the brain, especially when these waking episodes happen many times every night and over an extended period of time.
A common treatment for alcohol-related memory loss is thiamine (vitamin B1) in very large doses. The vitamin is thought to help damaged brain cells recover and become functional again.
Further research is being planned to explore the mechanisms in sleep apnea which cause the damage to brain cells.
A spokesperson for the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute says the findings of this study underscore the value of early treatment of sleep apnea for prolonged quality of life.
Source: UCLA
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Sleep apnea does impair emotional and recognition centers in the brain responsible for perception, memory, creativity, etc. Sounds a lot like Alzheimer’s doesn’t it? There needs to be so much research into sleep apnea because it seems to directly correlate to so many diseases: high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, and diabetes, to name a few. There are so many millions of people who suffer from it and don’t even know it, and that’s a tragedy waiting to happen.
I was diagnosed whith this condition back in 2005. I have not received any type of treatment and would like to know if there is anyone out there that is willing to help. I am now a college student who is having difficulties with sleep and memory along with being in a groggy mood through-out the day. please help..281-748-4619 Thank you.
I am replying to Manuel Moreno. I know it’s been a while since you posted your comment, but I thought I would offer advice. I just was diagnosed with sleep apnea myself. I am going to get the CPAP machine this week, I can’t wait! My doctor said that I could lose weight and hope it gets better or go with the CPAP machine. I recommend the CPAP machine over surgery. You can get surgery on your throat, but it doesn’t have a high effectiveness rate.
I hope this helps.
Donna Hester
My dad has it, and my mom also has it. I think I have Sleep Apnea because I am over weight, and people say that I snore really loud. Thanks Greg Ellison
I was just diagnosed with SEVERE sleep apnea before Christmas. I went to a local sleep center, they did a study, and apparently I was suffering from 33 attacks an hour, where my airway was being cut off.
I now use a CPAP machine, and feel like a MILLION BUCKS compared to how I felt before.
If you think you may suffer from apnea (memory loss, agitated, terrible snoring, never rested) do yourself a favor and go see someone about it. I’m so happy I did.
I went to a neurologist because I felt like I had ADD because I could not concentrate well and my memory was somewhat bad. I told her I might have sleep apnea(I was obsessed with looking up any sort of thing I might have had) and the neurologist said I probably don’t have it because I never get headaches and I do not sleep during the day. I did the sleep study and it was discovered that I had moderate to severe sleep apnea. If you feel like your memory is not as good as everyone elses, think about what might be the cause as I did because a doctor seems to help diagnose correctly 20% of the time and it’s really up to you to determine the problem.
There really is a better way to deal with sleep apnea than CPAP or surgery. I spent 4 years studying sleep apnea and I believe that the root cause is due to the attenuation of the signal from the brain to the diaphragm muscles when the sleeper enters stage II sleep. This un-intended side-effect of the “reduction of muscle tonus” that occurs during this transition causes breathing to stop. Then, when the CO2 level gets too high, the sleeper makes a rapid inhalation DRAGGING the soft tissue into the airway, obstructing it and waking them up. The reduction of the signal from the brain is causing the problem.
So… I found this herbal combination product that INCREASES the signal and keeps the breathing going. This addresses the root cause so you don’t make a rapid inhalation and drag the sagging tissues into the airway. The stuff is called Sleep Apnea Relief and I buy it from Nature’s Rite. I’ve been using it for 4 years and it is really great. So you don’t have to use CPAP. I just wanted to let you know.
Sleep Apnea as I have found out does not just suddenly happen. I have always snored loudly, had tonsils and adenoids removed when I was 19, and had problems back then and I was not fat as I am today. The doctor, sleep specialist said that I have severe sleep apnea, he was worried about me, had to say I was also. For 3 1/2 years I doctored and no one could figure out what was wrong with me. When you get really bad, as I was, you wake up constantly during the night to urinate and then start bed wetting. I was told i was incontinent and given bladder meds that swelled me up like a balloon. My ankles swelled and my legs were starting to swell and I am not a salt user. That was when the urologist told me I had congestive heart failure. I said I was just in the heart institute last week and they said nothing was wrong with my heart. I was lucky…with further investigation on my own I found another gyne-urologist and after he read my history said you have sleep apnea. I was sent for testing and yep I did. I felt really bad by the time I was finally diagnosed and am very grateful for the BIPAP machine I am on. I was diagnosed with diabetes and have lost weight and told I can reverse that. I may have some memory problems as I quit breathing 135 times in 6 hours. I am going for testing on that. So my advice to anyone out there, get checked by a sleep specialist who can treat you and follow what you are told to do, as this condition gets worse when not treated and you can even die from the lack of oxygen to your brain. The doctor said he wished he could have treated me 10 years earlier. I see what he means now when he made that statement. Take care of yourself and insist on testing, it is painless and it may just save your life!