“If you have diabetes, sleep apnea can make it more difficult to manage your diabetes,” said Dr Ashwini Malhotra of Bansal Hospital.
She was addressing a talk on World Sleep Day. She said that according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), approximately 18 million people have sleep apnea, with up to 80 percent of people undiagnosed.
It is to be noted that World Sleep Day is an annual event organized by the World Sleep Day Committee of the World Sleep Society, formerly World Association of Sleep Medicine, since 2008. The goal is to celebrate the benefits of good and healthy sleep and to draw society's attention to the burden of sleep problems and their medical, educational, and social aspects, and to promote the prevention and management of sleep disorders.
She further said that inadequate rest or sleep can also lead to lack of motivation to exercise or plan meals. Sleepiness also can cause people to forget to take their medications and lead to further diabetes complications.
Sleep apnea may be genetically linked and it is most commonly found in those who are overweight or obese, people who smoke and are over the age of 40.
To diagnose sleep apnea, you can undergo a sleep test called a polysomnogram, which is a test that records body functions while you sleep. The test measures eye movements, electrical brain activity, muscle activity, heart rate, breathing and blood oxygen levels. She also talked about different treatments for snoring.
