Lack Of Sleep Significantly Exacerbates The Condition Of Patients With Asthma.

Sleep is a fundamental part of life. For this reason, lack of sleep has a very negative impact on many vital functions. Research has also shown that sleep deprivation significantly exacerbates the condition of people suffering from asthma.

As a respiratory disease, asthma may be mild or severe. Mild forms cause sporadic symptoms. However, severe asthma attacks or attacks interfere with rest, and bronchospasms can occur while you sleep.

New research has found that poor sleep worsens asthma and vice versa. The worse the patient’s sleep quality, the more likely they are to observe symptoms of the disease during the day. In this context, we must mention sleep apnea. Many overweight people who have had asthma for many years are faced with this condition.

Lack of sleep worsens asthma, and there is also a complex health problem that links other risk factors. It does not exclude diseases of the heart or circulatory system.

Lack of sleep exacerbates asthma

A study has been published in the latest issue of the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology that found that sleep deprivation exacerbates asthma. Similarly, the study reports that other sleep disorders have the same negative impact.

The authors assessed patients with asthma over the age of 20 and divided them into three study groups:

• Those who slept less than six hours.
• Those who slept for six to eight hours.
• Those who slept for more than nine hours.

The latter group consisted mainly of elderly women who smoked. On the other hand, those who slept fewer hours were usually young.

In the long run, after observation, the group that slept the shortest was more likely to be hospitalized for asthma attacks and frequent dry cough. This was not the case with those who slept longer. However, this group showed problems with daily life activities.

In addition to indicating that sleep deprivation exacerbates asthma, these results have caught researchers’ attention because of the effect sleep has on breathing. In fact , there may be a physiological relationship between breathing and the resting brain.

Sleep apnea and asthma

As we mentioned above, some asthmatics also suffer from sleep apnea. It is a disorder in which the patient stops breathing for a few seconds at night without realizing it. This causes periodic desaturation of oxygen, i.e. periodically low levels of oxygen in the blood.

Sleep apnea occurs twice as often in asthmatics as in the rest of the population. However, your risk increases if you take inhaled corticosteroids.

Poor sleep worsens asthma and is almost inevitable in patients with sleep apnea unless specific treatment is started. It’s a vicious circle. They find it difficult to fall asleep because of these brief wakings due to lack of oxygen.

In the morning, after a sleepless night, the patient is in worse condition, which prevents him from functioning properly during the day. The next night, the cycle repeats itself: he does not sleep well enough and wakes up in worse shape the next day.

How can an asthmatic sleep better?

There are some tips that can improve the sleep quality of asthma patients. Now that you know that not getting enough good-quality sleep makes asthma worse. So let’s take steps to improve the quality of sleep.

First, you need to make sure you are taking the correct asthma medication. Asthma patients should be well monitored and treated to minimize the risk of an attack. Of course, tobacco is contraindicated, as is exposure to toxic substances in the air. Experts recommend that these patients sleep in a room with anti-mite objects.

If a patient suffers from sleep apnea, they may go to a pulmonologist to get a machine that provides a constant and stable supply air pressure. These machines significantly improve the quality of sleep.

Lack of sleep – you can act against it

The news that sleep deprivation worsens asthma should become a call for these patients to pay attention to sleep hygiene. You can follow a few simple steps to regulate your sleep.

In any case, these patients should always check with their doctor to make sure their asthma is under control. Likewise, the only way to solve the problem of sleep apnea is through specialist intervention.