If you or somebody you are close to breathes a little strangely while sleeping, it may be more of a concern than you think. Sleep disordered breathing (SBD) is linked to a number of health concerns, such as hypertension, depression and heart disease. A new study has also shown a possible link between conditions such as sleep apnoea and the increased risk of suffering from cancer complications, including death.
This long-running study has been carried out over the past 22 years on over 1,500 patients at the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort. All patients underwent a night of monitoring, including polysomnography every four years, and this included a recording of their sleep and breathing. Looking at the data, and corresponding wellness information, it became evident that those who suffered from severe sleep disordered breathing had five times more chance of dying from cancer.
The most common type of complication affecting wellbeing in those with sleep apnoea is the risk of heart disease, but mortality rate in those suffering from this disorder is generally higher than average anyway. The new findings about the link between SBD and cancer mortality may be due to a lack of oxygen to important cells over a long period of time. Lack of oxygen to cells has been linked to the increased likelihood of cancer growth.
Apnoea occurs when the muscles in the back of your throat relax too much, which closes your airway temporarily and makes you stop breathing. It is known that this reduces the oxygen levels in the body, but the full extent of the effect of this condition is not yet known. While this new study seems to indicate a link between this sleep condition and cancer mortality rates, a lot more research is needed in order to fully explore the repercussions of this discovery and how it can be mitigated.
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