Stress and successful cpap

[Gerryk]

I remember some posts asking about how stress effects your cpap therapy. I couldn't find any that specifically were titled that but had breifly mentioned it.

This morning I downloaded my data for the first time since Dec 29, just been too busy. I had downloaded two other times between Dec 13 and then but hadn't read the data.

My stress was extremely high from about two weeks before Christmas until Jan 1st. The holidays are always stressfull, but my mother in law was in the hospital with severe pneumonia and had to have surgery. We ended up doing our shopping once with both kids with and my wife up at the hospital and then my wife and I got out for about an hour together to shop. There were other stressers too.
But my numbers for that time period were all over the charts. Numbers were definately up and the charts actually look like someone scribbled on paper.
I knew I wasn't resting properly as I didn't feel my normal self.

Gerry

[jjocelyn]

take some deep breath and drink hot milk to calm down yourself....
dun think you are stressed, that will make you feel even more stressful.

[KatieW]

But my numbers for that time period were all over the charts. Numbers were definately up and the charts actually look like someone scribbled on paper.
I knew I wasn't resting properly as I didn't feel my normal self. Gerry

I'd like to know the connection between stress and higher AHI also. We've all experienced less restful sleep when stressed, but how does that translate into higher hypopneas and apneas?

It's something I've been wondering about, and meaning to research.

[xiola]

I know stress affects my therapy. I can't prove it because I'm not actively into looking at the numbers yet.

I have the tools to do so, but I have to do things in progression, and in my own time.. I'll get there.

but going by how i feel, I'm confident in saying for ME, elevated stress = less effective therapy. if I'd been charting my numbers these past two weeks, I think I'd see an increase in AHI. now i kinda wish i had been tracking it.

really really really looking forward to the pursleep aromatherapy thing i ordered. I know when i use eucalyptus/lavendar lotion on my feet (probably TMI for most of you, but w/e) it smells so good it almost instantly relaxes me. I can't wait to see if get the same effect as I'm going off to sleep now with the pursleep product.

[Gerryk]

Think about what we do when we are asleep and have lots of stress in our lives. We don't sleep well because our minds are going and many times our bodies are too. I could tell by the way I felt and my numbers that I was moving around a lot and had higher leaks because of it. The blankets are also a dead give away when you wake up and it looks like I made the bed while blindfolded.

Gerry

[ozij]

When I'm stressed I can't sleep well. I toss and turn a lot -- the tossing an turning is interpreted by the machine as apneas and hypopneas.

O.

[Uncle_Bob]

When i get stressed its normally followed closely by anxiety. I have some xanax to use in extreme situations. Otherwise St.Johns Wort is a useful herbal supplement for mood enhancement if you have not already tried it.

[Gerryk]

I know some of the newer people on cpap have mentioned some stress and or anxiety especially about starting something new. I also see docs put or want to put many people on sleeping pills when they start cpap. I would bet most of the ones who are put on them don't need it and the ones that would benefit from it don't get it.

Just like so many other things in our healthcare system.

Gerry

[azhosehead]

I'm sure stress has something to do with quality of sleep. I'm kind of a numbers junkie and the two things that seem to impact the AHI's is length of time sleeping on the CPAP and Leaks. This is using ResMed's software 7.3. There are times though where I don't have any leaks and get 6 or 7 hrs of sleep and have a high AHI. Those make me wonder what is at work.

The more consistent I am getting over 6 hrs of sleep per night and keep the leaks down the "ratio" of AHI to hours of sleep gets smaller. That is, consistent good sleep times overall tend to reduce AHI incidents. I could take a giant leap and say that good sleep treatment improves how I (and maybe you) handle stress. My sleep schedule get messed up when I'm stressed. That can turn into a downward spiral where I don't get the sleep I need so the level stress goes up because I'm tired during the day.

Exercise and a decent diet are other things that can help improve sleep times and reduce the stress. I find that is easier said than what I do every day.

Regards...

[Muse-Inc]

When I'm stressed, I sleep very lightly and am easily awakened by the slightest disturbances, heat or AC kicking on, rain starting or stopping, wind, night birds . Now that I have data, I can really see the difference in my numbers....wish like Ozij I could blame it on tossing & turning but when I sleep I scarely move at all. Seems to me like my still somewhat fragmented sleep is worsened by stress.