Effectively managing your sleep goes a long way in maintaining your overall well-being. While we’re asleep, our bodies work feverishly into the night performing maintenance to help keep us functional. One of the systems most affected by this regular maintenance is metabolism.

While most people likely never think about how their breathing during the night affects their weight, the relationship is quite compelling. If your airway becomes blocked while you’re sleeping, either from gravity pulling your tongue back and blocking your airway or from your sleeping posture alone cinching your airway, this can cause you to wake up gasping for air or choking. Interruptions in your sleep, especially from a loss of oxygen, cause sleep deprivation and when you lose sleep, your metabolism isn’t able to regulate the way it should.

Sleep’s Effect on Weight

Because your metabolism is so closely tied to your sleep, breathing problems can cause weight gain. Consequently, weight gain also causes breathing problems thus creating a feedback loop that can grow out of control quickly. This combination can result in sleep apnea, in which you can experience:

• Weight gain
• Difficulty losing weight
• Diabetes

The Dangers of Sleep Apnea

This cycle is particularly dangerous because weight gain can lead to obesity, which is a significant contributor to sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a dangerous sleep disorder in which breathing starts and stops. Apart from the dangers associated with your breathing stopping in the middle of the night, sleep apnea bears the risk of experiencing a variety of other life-threatening conditions such as:

• Weight gain/Obesity
• Hypertension/Cardiovascular disease
• Diabetes

Excess body weight can lead to fatty deposits putting pressure on the airways. This pressure contributes to sleep apnea risk. Pressure on the airways can lead to weakened lung control and even collapse. Additional fatty tissue can decrease lung volume and make it hard to breathe even while a person is awake.

How Can Balance Epigenetic Orthodontics Help You Sleep?

Dr. Buck has a tremendous amount of experience treating sleep disorders for groups of all ages. If you or your child is experiencing difficulty sleeping, it may be the result of undiagnosed sleep apnea. If you would like to learn more about options for treatment, call Dr. Buck today at (425) 409-2180 to schedule an appointment.