How does testosterone worsen sleep apnea

Book an Appointment. Testosterone is a hormone. Men mostly produce testosterone through their testicles, and most of theri testosterone is released while they sleep. Testosterone helps in building bone and muscle mass and stimulates the sex drive. Sleep apnea is a chronic condition that often leads to sleep deprivation. These pauses can last anywhere from a couple seconds to minutes. Generally, you start breathing normally again, sometimes with a choking sound or loud snort.

Sleep apnea symptoms may include insomnia, excessive daytime sleepiness, snoring, sleep deprivation or episodes of no breathing. The below statistics reveal how prevalent both conditions are. Research has confirmed that there is a relationship between sleep apnea and low T. During sleep, changes in testosterone levels in both men and women occur naturally. The highest levels of the hormone happen in your REM sleep.

When you have a sleep disorder like sleep apnea, your amounts of REM sleep are reduced which often leads to low-T levels.

Evidence shows a strong relationship between low testosterone and a sleep breathing disorder like sleep apnea. This evidence shows that low-T levels often occur in men with OSA. These men are also more prone to suffering from associated complications like low libido, impotence, and erectile dysfunction. Like men, women also have a chance of OSA affecting their sexual lives negatively. And as the sleep apnea gets worse, sexual function problems like decreased desire and sensation do as well.

Published research studied men who were around the age of 44 and had sleep apnea. They were separated into four groups based on how severe their sleep apnea was. Both the quantity and quality of sleep affect testosterone levels. Testosterone products have also been shown in other studies to increase the risk of death, heart attack or stroke. Since OSA is also linked to heart attack and stroke, men who suffer from both low testosterone and OSA face double the complications if they proceed with hormone therapy.

Some men may not even realize they have low testosterone levels until they visit a doctor with complaints of fatigue. In these cases, doctors should review sleep issues as well as take blood tests to determine root cause for the fatigue if other explanations aren't obvious. If a man is diagnosed with both OSA and low testosterone, it's imperative that he be proactive about following through on therapy to treat the OSA first.

Treating low testosterone alone, without also treating OSA, has been shown to increase the severity and discomfort of preexisting, untreated sleep apnea. In fact, successful treatment of OSA has been shown to naturally cause a "rebound" in levels of testosterone as soon as adequate sleep was restored.

Thus, the solution seems simple enough: treat your OSA, and your body may come through with its own hormone reset and make hormone therapy completely unnecessary. Throw in some weight loss for good measure and Low T should no longer be a problem. Researchers suggest that doctors pay more mind to the possibility of undiagnosed OSA as an explanation for their low T.

A blood test, sleep diary, discussion of symptoms and medical history may all naturally point to the need for a sleep assessment. For those men who don't have OSA, or who still suffer from low testosterone even after successfully treating their OSA, further investigation by their physician will best determine whether they need a course of hormones. Topics: sleep apnea , low testosterone. He is the past founder and President of Alaska Sleep Clinic, touted as the most trafficked sleep center website in the world.

Who we are Problems we solve How can I get more traffic to my blog How can I leverage inbound marketing into my medical website? How are low testosterone and sleep apnea linked? The vicious cycle between poor sleep and low testosterone Poor sleep, poor T The obesity connection Low testosterone levels are a key reason for many sexual problems, such as flagging libido, erectile dysfunction, infertility and generalized fatigue.

Hormone therapy: the risks It's appealing to consider a hormone therapy approach for improving low levels of testosterone, as positive cardiovascular and metabolic outcomes have been reported for many who go this route. Treatment options for Low T Some men may not even realize they have low testosterone levels until they visit a doctor with complaints of fatigue.

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