Sleep Apnea’s Impact on Life Expectancy and Quality of Life
By Julien Her, senior quality care coordinator at Network Health
03/21/2025
Did you know there is an estimated 50-70 million people who have a sleeping disorder? One of these sleeping disorders is sleep apnea, a condition where your breathing periodically pauses while asleep.
It’s more than just loud snoring or waking up often in the middle of the night. It’s a serious sleep disorder that can affect both life expectancy and daily well-being, and if left untreated, it can chip away at your health.
Risk Factors of Sleep Apnea
This condition is more common among Black, Hispanic and Native American adults. Other common risk factors for sleep apnea are smoking, excess weight, being male, being older in age and having a family history of sleep apnea.
In addition, anatomical features can also play a role in one’s risk of sleep apnea, such as enlarged tonsils or a narrow throat. And while men are generally more prone to sleep apnea, a woman’s risk can rise after menopause.
Common Symptoms of Sleep Apnea
Despite these risk factors, it may not always be obvious that you have sleep apnea. Often, people are alerted to the possibility by a partner complaining of loud snoring during the night. But there are other common symptoms of sleep apnea to look out for, including the following.
- Loud snoring
- Gasping for air during sleep
- Awakening with a dry mouth
- Morning headache
- Insomnia
- Difficulty paying attention while awake
- Irritability
It is important to discuss with your personal care doctor if you have concerns regarding your sleep as this condition can impact your life expectancy due to increase health problems and quality of life.
How Sleep Apnea Affects Quality of Life
As mentioned above, sleep apnea can chip away at your health and cause serious health concerns over time. This is because sleep apnea places cumulative stress on your body. When you stop breathing in your sleep, this impacts your heart rate and puts a strain on your cardiovascular system. One easy way to think about it is putting your cardiovascular system through an exercise regimen several times each night, only without the benefits of regular exercise.
Because of this increased strain on the cardiovascular system, sleep apnea can increase your risk for such health problems as high blood pressure, a heart attack and stroke. Sleep apnea can also increase the risk of depression, mood swings and daytime sleepiness.
Let untreated in the short term, your quality of life may be impacted by experiencing tiredness during the day, headaches in the morning or difficult concentrating. The longer it goes untreated, however, the more serious the complications become. The long-term impact of untreated sleep apnea is what we mentioned above… high blood pressure, heart problems or even diabetes. Ultimately, untreated sleep apnea can lead to a reduced life expectancy long term.
[Read more: How What You Eat Affects Your Sleep]
How to Treat Sleep Apnea
So, how do you treat it? It starts with completing a sleep study to determine the severity of your sleep apnea. Your doctor may order a sleep study to help with diagnosis or place referrals to see specialists such as an ear, nose and throat provider, cardiologist, or neurologist. You may even be able to complete a sleep study at home using a take-home device.
If it is determined that you have sleep apnea, there are several treatment options available. Your doctor may recommend a combination of lifestyle changes and medical interventions. Lifestyle changes may involve weight loss and smoking cessation, while medical options can be a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, oral appliances or surgery.
Please contact your personal doctor if you have any questions or concerns regarding your sleep.
References:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sleep-apnea/symptoms-causes/syc-20377631
https://www.cdc.gov/heart-disease/about/sleep-and-heart-health.html
