Sleep apnea causes: Understanding your risk levels

Sleep apnea causes aren’t always within our control. But understanding the many signs of sleep apnea is an important step in determining your own personal level of risk.

Apnea happens when our breathing is interrupted while sleeping. This causes oxygen deprivation, in the bloodstream and in the brain, which can lead to serious health problems like diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure and heart failure – not to mention lesser but still harmful issues like lack of sleep, irritability and drowsiness (particularly dangerous while we’re on the road).

Obviously, these are problems to be avoided, and by better understanding the full range of sleep apnea causes, we can start taking steps to do just that.

Sleep apnea causes: The obvious

You’ve probably heard the better-known causes of sleep apnea hundreds of times – and, for the most part, they are the most reliable indicators of your personal sleep apnea risk level. They include:

• Obesity. As most of us have heard, weight is a common sleep apnea factor. But losing weight is tough if you have apnea, thanks to a lack of energy during the day.
• Gender. Are you male? Then you’re about four times more susceptible to sleep apnea than women – although women become more susceptible than men during pregnancy and after menopause. The gender imbalance tends to even out as we age, as well.
• Age. Because aging impairs our brains’ ability to control our throat muscles, the older we get, the more susceptible we become, with those over 40 particularly at risk.
• Neck size. “If you are a man with a neck size of 17 inches or more or a woman with a neck size of 16 inches or more,” you’re more at risk for sleep apnea.
• Smoking and alcohol use. Smoking affects your respiratory system, and alcohol can also slow your breathing and over-relax your throat muscles.

Sleep apnea causes: The not-so-obvious

Less obvious are the sleep apnea causes that might not be visible to the naked eye:

• Family history of sleep apnea. As with many other health conditions, sleep apnea tends to run in the family. Talk to your parents or other close family members.
• Large tonsils or a large tongue. This can directly affect the amount of air you’re able to inhale during sleep. Talk to your doctor.
• Hypertension and gastroesophageal reflux (GERD). These conditions are sometimes linked to sleep apnea because of their effects on general respiratory health.
• Allergies or sinus problems. Another leading cause of respiratory inflammation, which can in turn lead to sleep apnea.
• High-fat diet. Spicy and sugary foods are also sometimes cited as sleep apnea causes.

As you can probably tell by the common nature of many of these sleep apnea causes, this is not a rare condition. More than 18 million Americans are estimated to suffer from sleep apnea — which is why organizations like ResMed constantly work to innovate new sleep apnea therapy devices to help alleviate the effects of sleep apnea. Learn about sleep apnea treatments here.