Sleep Apnea and Diabetes: Weighty Issues

The connection between sleep apnea and diabetes can be amazing as they both contribute to each other's development. More importantly, obesity has been identified as the number one factor in developing these disorders. Hence, treating the other would eventually lead to the other disorder’s healing. Read more to find out.

Losing weight is one of the best ways to treat sleep apnea and diabetes. People who are overweight face a unique challenge with sleep apnea and diabetes. Although thre's no definite proof to link the two disorders, there are still some significant indications that will explain the connection.

For starters, both sleep apnea and diabetes are triggered by obesity. Although this does not necessarily mean that people who suffer from these two disorders are generally obese, overweight is a great factor that should always be considered.

Overview on Sleep Apnea and Diabetes

Sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder caused by a collapsed airway. From the term "apneas", which means "without breath", episodic occurrence of temporary cessation of breathing occurs during sleep. This happens when the muscle tone particularly located at the face and neck relaxes while an individual is sleeping. Since the human airway is generally made up of soft tissues that are susceptible for collapse, sleep apnea is expected to take place for most people at a given point in time.

However, obesity has been the primary culprit when analyzing people who are suffering from sleep apnea. This is due to the notable mass or weight at the neck and face area.

In the same way, diabetes is triggered by excess weight. Precisely how excess fat promotes insulin resistance is not yet entirely clear, but it is thought that certain proteins and enzymes released by stored fat act on muscle and liver cells to impair the way that they "read" insulin signals to process glucose.

In addition, research has found that the "apple-shaped" body (central abdominal obesity) associated with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes contains fat with unique properties. Specifically, this type of visceral abdominal fat sheds more free fatty acids, which can elevate triglyceride levels, and is associated with higher insulin levels that promote further fat storage. Paring down your abdominal fat has the double benefit of both increasing insulin sensitivity and decreasing triglyceride levels in people with type 2 diabetes.

Hitting Two Birds with One Stone

Given all these facts, health experts say that it is not only through obesity that sleep apnea and diabetes have something in common. Studies show that individuals suffering from apneic events are more likely to have damaged glucose tolerance. Also, certain studies showed how levels of oxygen desaturation during sleep can be closely linked with glucose intolerance.