Most people don’t appreciate how truly serious the condition of sleep apnea is. People who snore may think that the sound of their snoring is the worst thing about it, never appreciating the potential impact of the much more serious impact of their breathing problems.
On the other hand, most people understand the problems with high blood pressure. It’s one of the most commonly diagnosed conditions and medications for it are among the most commonly prescribed. What they don’t understand is that high blood pressure is strongly related to sleep apnea. And they share many of the same risks.
Our infographic can help people understand these risks in the hopes that they will seek treatment for their sleep apnea.
Shared Risks of Sleep Apnea and Hypertension
Sleep apnea and hypertension can have serious impacts on many of the organs in your body.
Obviously, your heart is one of the organs most at risk from hypertension and sleep apnea. That’s because your heart has to work harder to pump high-pressure blood. You can experience chest pain, known as angina, as well as more serious heart problems. You might experience irregular heart rhythms, heart attacks, and you can even be at an elevated frisk for cardiac death.
The brain can also be injured by high blood pressure. High blood pressure increases the risk that blood clots in the arteries can break free and cause an ischemic stroke. High blood pressure can also damage and burst blood vessels in the brain, leading to a hemorrhagic stroke.
Because your kidneys are tasked with the function of filtering out your blood, they can also be damaged by high blood pressure. High blood pressure can decrease kidney function, or potentially lead to kidney failure.
Even bones are vulnerable to sleep apnea and hypertension. High blood pressure can cause the body to rob calcium from bones, causing them to weaken. This can lead to osteoporosis and increase the risk of serious bone fractures.
Our Infographic Helps Communicate
One of the crucial parts of our mission at River Edge Dental is to make sure our patients and potential patients are well-educated about the potential risks of conditions like sleep apnea.
Since people understand the many risks related to hypertension, we decided that comparing hypertension and sleep apnea would help them get an even better idea about the potential dangers of the condition. That’s why we showed that these two conditions are so strongly linked in all these major health consequences. Our hope is that people will see the significance of getting their sleep apnea treated and talk to their doctor about it.
We also hope that people who have difficulty with CPAP will realize they can’t just leave their sleep apnea untreated. Instead, they will seek out CPAP alternatives that can give them equivalent or better results.
To learn more about these treatment alternatives, please call (201) 343-4044 today for an appointment with a sleep dentist at River Edge Dental, New Jersey’s center for TMJ, sleep apnea, & reconstructive dentistry.
The post Our New Sleep Apnea Infographic Is Informative and Impactful appeared first on River Edge Dental.