Unhealthy diet and disturbed sleep

People with severe sleep apnoea tend to eat a less healthy diet than people with milder apnoea symptoms and those without the disorder. Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) occurs when the soft tissues at the back of the throat temporarily collapse during sleep, causing repeated breathing interruptions. Symptoms include loud snoring and daytime sleepiness. Previous studies have revealed that sleep deprivation may upset the balance of certain appetite-controlling hormones. Therefore, researchers from United Kingdom examined whether dietary habits and physical activity patterns were associated with severity of sleep disordered breathing in adults diagnosed with sleep apnoea. They studied 320 adults with severe symptoms of sleep apnoea. The data regarding their body mass index (BMI), age, and daytime sleepiness were collected. The respiratory disturbance index was used as an independent variable; and, dietary intake and physical activity were used as dependent variables. While obesity does raise the risk of severe sleep apnoea, it was found that people with severe symptoms of sleep apnoea ate diets higher in cholesterol and artery-clogging saturated fat. Patients with severe OSA consumed 9 grams extra of saturated fats and 88 milligrams extra of cholesterol per day compared with the patients with mild symptoms or none at all. Also, people with severe OSA exercised less, but that link appeared to be explained by their higher rate of obesity. In contrast, the higher fat and cholesterol intakes were independent of patient's weight. The patients with OSA also had a higher risk of cardiovascular disease than those without the breathing disorder. The results suggest that eating habits might contribute to increased risks of heart disease and stroke in people with sleep apnoea. However, experts are not certain if this is a cause-and-effect relationship, but there are reasons to believe that OSA can directly lead to cardiovascular problems. OSA may have indirect effects on the heart as well, via a less healthy lifestyle. Further studies are required to understand why severe OSA sufferers have fattier diets and whether unhealthy dietary and activity patterns help explain their higher rate of cardiovascular disease.

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