Sleep Apnea Worse in Winter

One of the many reasons I love living in Sunny South Florida

Hey folks,

When I was a kid, I loved being outside. Growing up in NY, that meant, all four seasons. We had stuff to do no matter what time of year it was. I remember spending nearly all day outside, sleigh riding, Snowman making, snowball fighting. Never had a problem.

As I got older though, I starting to find it more difficult to breath. I chalked it up to all those years of smoking. But turns out, it may have just been indeed the cold. I did find it a lot easier to breath all year here.

Another one of my seemingly growing medical conditions is Sleep Apnea. I have talked about this in depth. So now there is a new study that seems to link cold weather with worsening Sleep Apnea. Lets take a look at this in this weeks Health and Science segment.

(Reuters) - Respiration problems in sleep apnea - which causes people to momentarily stop breathing multiple times throughout the night, for seconds to minutes at a time - appear to worsen during the colder months of the year, according to a study from Brazil.

Changes in weight and seasonal allergies can affect sleep apnea, and researchers writing in the journal Chest wanted to see if weather changes might also have an impact.

"More sleep disordered breathing events were recorded in wintertime than in other seasons," wrote study leader Cristiane Maria Cassol from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul.

Cassol and her team said it could be due to several causes, including winter-related upper-airway problems that intensify the severity of symptoms and the use of burning wood to heat homes during the winter.

The team utilized data from sleep clinic patients and looked at how many times their rest was disturbed by breaks in breathing. The study included one night of sleep for more than 7,500 patients over a 10-year-period.

Researchers then compared the severity of the patients' apnea to the weather conditions at the time, including humidity, temperature and air pollution.

Patients who came in during colder months had more nighttime breaks in breathing than those who sought treatment during warmer months. During the winter, patients stopped breathing an average of 18 times an hour compared to 15 times an hour during the summer.

15 times an hour? 18 in winter. Folks, if you think you may have Sleep Apnea, please go get checked. It is nothing to mess around with. You stop breathing. Sometimes you stop long enough to actually wake you up.

Similarly, the sleep clinic was more likely to see the most severe cases - people who stopped breathing more than 30 times an hour - during the colder months.

About 34 percent of patients who came in during cold weather had severe apnea, compared to 28 percent of patients during warmer weather.

The team found that certain weather conditions, such as high atmospheric pressure and humidity and high levels of the air pollutant carbon monoxide - were tied to worse cases of apnea.

But the study could not determine whether it was the weather itself that was responsible for the more severe apneas.

Jerome Dempsey, who studies breathing problems at the University of Wisconsin and wasn't involved in the study, said it makes sense that airway infections and weather could have an effect on sleep apnea, but that the changes across the seasons were small.

"There are so many things that affect sleep apnea, including the decision of when to come visit" a sleep clinic, Dempsey told Reuters Health.

In other words, it might not be the weather but the time of year that makes it more convenient for patients to take the time to seek treatment.

He added that while winter-related conditions such as colds or allergies might intensify sleep apnea, the biggest risk factor is obesity. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/MqNmmE

(Reporting from New York by Kerry Grens at Reuters Health; editing by Elaine Lies and Bob Tourtellotte)

{Sigh} Typical. WHY DO WE SPEND MONEY ON THESE STUDIES!!! I was totally interested in this, and reading it with you, until THIS.... But the study could not determine whether it was the weather itself that was responsible for the more severe apneas. And this. In other words, it might not be the weather but the time of year that makes it more convenient for patients to take the time to seek treatment. I'm sorry folks, but I have to go from experience here. I think I agree with THIS.. it makes sense that airway infections and weather could have an effect on sleep apnea, In other words cold restricts, heat expands, pollen in the air, etc. But that is simply me applying Logic to the equation.

You know, I was really into this until they tell us yet again, we spent all this money, and did all these tests and experiments, and yet, we have no idea what or why. Still doesn't change the fact that Sleep Apnea is a serious condition. If you stop breathing 15 to 18 times an hour, it only take once, that you do not start again. Go get check out..
Peter

Sources:

Reuters - Sleep apnea gets worse in the winter: study