Healthy Living: Local News
Sleep Apnea And Diabetes
Tools
Story Updated: May 24, 2012
(ABC News) Sleep apnea is a potentially serious disorder in which a sleeper's breathing repeatedly stops and starts.
It can have serious health consequences, and now researchers have linked it to diabetes.
What is sleep apnea? The symptoms include: loud snoring, waking up out of breath and feeling tired even after a full night's sleep.
If you have it, health experts say you should get your blood sugar checked.
Researchers followed almost eight thousand people and found that those with moderate to severe sleep apnea were also likely to have diabetes.
Low night-time levels of oxygen in the blood were also a predictor of
diabetes.
Diabetes is associated with a significant risk of heart disease
and death, so researchers say sleep apnea not treated can lead to major health trouble.