One underlying cause of heart disease, high blood pressure, or other heart problems may be sleep apnea. Dr. Virend Somers spoke to the issue of sleep apnea and heart disease at the Science of Mind-Body Interactions conference held at the National Institutes of Health. Research has shown that OSA patients with normal blood pressure run a risk of developing high blood pressure within four years.
Hypertension is a major risk factor in the development of heart disease and stroke.
Somers and his colleagues have done research on OSA patients who had no other illnesses, to rule out any confounding factors. Involuntary functions such as heart rate and blood vessel constriction are controlled by the sympathetic nervous system. In persons without apnea, there is usually a decrease in SNS activity and blood pressure falls when sleeping. However, during apnea events, the higher level of SNS activity constricts the blood vessels, while the heart rate also jumps, slamming blood into tight vessels. Sleep apnea patients also have faster heart rates than non-apnea patients, even when awake, but have less variability in their heart rates.