I have become a kind of 'preacher' or 'broken-record' about sleep apnea and weight on a few posts on various boards here. I haven't gotten much feed back.

But I feel it is so important, I am going to post again. Sleep apnea is a very serious condition that left untreated can make weight loss virtually impossible and lead to a whole host of serious medical conditions, including (and not trying to be dramatic) early death.

So why do I keep posting? An eye popping 93% of women and 82% of men who have the condition ever get it diagonsed. And unlike many things there is usually no surgery involved, or shots you have to give, or potentially dangerous medications, you just wear a mask of some sort while you sleep.

Think about trying to lose weight and having sleep apnea. BTW an apnea is cessation in breathing. You wake up (even if you don't know it) to start breathing again. Someone with sleep apnea can have this happen over a 100 times an hour (that would be severe though) and you usually have low oxygen levels when apneas occur.

So you are tired and it is harder to exercise. But your metabolism is also being messed up AND studies have confirmed lack of sleep makes you hungrier. Therefore it is virtually impossible to lose weight if you do not treat your sleep apnea.

What to do? Read up on it and get it checked out. I don't what more to say either than it might be the most important health decision (AND weight loss decision) you EVER make in your life to get it checked if you might have it.

[fatmad]

I second the emotion! Although being diagnosed and treated didn't make me magically lose weight like I hoped, I do rest better and am generally healthier. I no of people who have died from sleep apnea, ( a popular local singer, Matt Osborn, a big man with a big voice died young from this).
It is so easy to treat too.
Did you notice on "the Biggest Loser" it seems all the contestants have one, I think most hadn't been diagnosed before going on the show, it was part of the health checks happening as part of the game.

[Shmead]

It's also a kindness to whomever is sleeping next to you! I sleep SO MUCH BETTER now that my husband has a CPAP. Not only is it now quiet, I no longer wake up panicking because he's stopped breathing for even longer than normal and I have to wake him up. It is SO disconcerting to hear the person you love struggle to breathe. And we can still snuggle as close as ever--I just can't kiss him on the mouth once the mask is on.

The CPAP has really changed our life. It wasn't like a lightswitch, the way it is for some people, but over the course of a year my husband became so much more alert, so much more able to concentrate on difficult mental tasks. He's brilliant in any case, but I really think it was like he reclaimed 10 points of IQ he hadn't seen in years.

[Renwomin]

I really believe I was headed for serious sleep problems before I started losing weight. I was waking up my SO with my snoring. I believe that has gotten better though I really should check with him! Thanks for the reminder.