Can Sleep Apnea Cause Weight Gain? Know the Details

Could sleep apnea cause you weight gain? Give it a thought—if you feel sleepy at work, feel too tempered to reach for a cup of coffee, and crave an unhealthy snack for a quick shot of energy boost. And when you’re finally in bed, you feel too wound up to sleep. It’s a vicious cycle, and eventually, sleep deprivation can sabotage your waistline and health.

If you’ve been diagnosed with Sleep Apnea, you’re more likely to have an excessive amount of fatigue, and you could also be gaining extra weight.

How can Sleep Apnea cause weight gain?

Here are some reasons how sleep disorders such as sleep apnea could be causing you weight gain:

• Sleep apnea can affect your workout routine

One of the last things you would try on this planet is to work out when you’re tired. A regular workout can improve your energy levels and will help you maintain a healthy amount of weight. However, if you’re tired constantly, you wouldn’t be excited to hit the gym, and even if you exercise, you might find it tiring and exhausting.

Due to unhealthy sleep during sleep apnea, a person might wake up lethargic and tired, which ultimately makes you disinterested in exercising, leading to weight gain.

• Fueling your fatigue

A lack of healthy sleep can result in more damage than being fatigued or not willing to exercise. As you all know, many significant functions take place in your body while you’re sleeping that helps in maintaining a healthy gut, immune system, and balanced appetite. In addition, while a person is sleeping, hormones that assist us in maintaining our hunger and sleep-wake cycle are regulated.

Without necessary shut-eye, all these regulations can be disrupted, and you might feel like eating more. For example, whenever you feel tired, you might consume more sugary treats or caffeinated beverages loaded with tons of calories to help you keep up with the day.

These eating materials can charge you up momentarily, but these calories can pump up your weight, ultimately alleviating the situation.

What are the dangers of weight gain with sleep apnea?

While sleep apnea can lead to weight gain, weight gain can also contribute to making sleep apnea worse. When most people gain weight, they attain it all over the body, including the neck and belly. This excess weight around the neck can narrow down the airways when a person lies down. As a result, when air enters your throat, it squeezes down and often can be heard in the form of snoring and wheezing.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea happens when airways get blocked during sleep; therefore, the excess narrowing can increase the times you wake up at night.

Obstructive sleep apnea is also associated with an increased risk of several other health conditions such as type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure—two conditions that have also been linked to excess weight.

If you have been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea, you can start having CPAP therapy which might help you get better sleep quality. Learn more about sleep apnea treatment options, including CPAP therapy.

How to avoid weight gain during sleep disorders?

For starters, avoid any caffeine in the afternoon because it will keep you in the lighter stages of sleep which are associated with poor sleep at night.

Exercise also helps a lot in improving sleep quality. So, make sure to include a few minutes of rigorous workout in your routine for at least three days a week.

Even if you are getting enough hours of sleep but wake up and feel sleepy the next day, talk to your doctor about seeing a sleep specialist. After conducting a thorough evaluation and sleep study, in which you are monitored while sleeping, the sleep specialist can help identify any underlying problems.

Together you can develop a treatment plan so that you get more high-quality sleep and maybe even slim down a little bit.